Sample records for long-range dependent processes

Recent studies [e.g. the Antarctic study of Franzke, J. Climate, 2010] have strongly suggested that surface temperatures exhibit long-rangedependence (LRD). The presence of LRD would hamper the identification of deterministic trends and the quantification of their significance. It is well established that LRD processes exhibit stochastic trends over rather long periods of time. Thus, accurate methods for discriminating between physical processes that possess long memory and those that do not are an important adjunct to climate modeling. As we briefly review, the LRD idea originated at the same time as H-selfsimilarity, so it is often not realised that a model does not have to be H-self similar to show LRD [e.g. Watkins, GRL Frontiers, 2013]. We have used Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms to perform a Bayesian analysis of Auto-Regressive Fractionally-Integrated Moving-Average ARFIMA(p,d,q) processes, which are capable of modeling LRD. Our principal aim is to obtain inference about the long memory parameter, d, with secondary interest in the scale and location parameters. We have developed a reversible-jump method enabling us to integrate over different model forms for the short memory component. We initially assume Gaussianity, and have tested the method on both synthetic and physical time series. Many physical processes, for example the Faraday Antarctic time series, are significantly non-Gaussian. We have therefore extended this work by weakening the Gaussianity assumption, assuming an alpha-stable distribution for the innovations, and performing joint inference on d and alpha. Such a modified FARIMA(p,d,q) process is a flexible, initial model for non-Gaussian processes with long memory. We will present a study of the dependence of the posterior variance of the memory parameter d on the length of the time series considered. This will be compared with equivalent error diagnostics for other measures of d.

Recent studies have strongly suggested that surface temperatures exhibit long-rangedependence (LRD). The presence of LRD would hamper the identification of deterministic trends and the quantification of their significance. It is well established that LRD processes exhibit stochastic trends over rather long periods of time. Thus, accurate methods for discriminating between physical processes that possess long memory and those that do not are an important adjunct to climate modeling. We have used Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms to perform a Bayesian analysis of Auto-Regressive Fractionally-Integrated Moving-Average (ARFIMA) processes, which are capable of modeling LRD. Our principal aim is to obtain inference about the long memory parameter, d,with secondary interest in the scale and location parameters. We have developed a reversible-jump method enabling us to integrate over different model forms for the short memory component. We initially assume Gaussianity, and have tested the method on both synthetic and physical time series such as the Central England Temperature. Many physical processes, for example the Faraday time series from Antarctica, are highly non-Gaussian. We have therefore extended this work by weakening the Gaussianity assumption. Specifically, we assume a symmetric α -stable distribution for the innovations. Such processes provide good, flexible, initial models for non-Gaussian processes with long memory. We will present a study of the dependence of the posterior variance σ d of the memory parameter d on the length of the time series considered. This will be compared with equivalent error diagnostics for other measures of d.

We have used MCMC algorithms to perform a Bayesian analysis of Auto-Regressive Fractionally-Integrated Moving-Average ARFIMA(p,d,q) processes, which are capable of modelling longrangedependence (e.g. Beran et al, 2013). Our principal aim is to obtain inference about the long memory parameter, d, with secondary interest in the scale and location parameters. We have developed a reversible-jump method enabling us to integrate over different model forms for the short memory component. We initially assume Gaussianity, and have tested the method on both synthetic and physical time series. We have extended the ARFIMA model by weakening the Gaussianity assumption, assuming an alpha-stable, heavy tailed, distribution for the innovations, and performing joint inference on d and alpha. We will present a study of the dependence of the posterior variance of the memory parameter d on the length of the time series considered. This will be compared with equivalent error diagnostics for other popular measures of d.

This paper deals with different bootstrap approaches and bootstrap confidence intervals in the fractionally autoregressive moving average (ARFIMA(p,d,q)) process [J. Hosking, Fractional differencing, Biometrika 68(1) (1981) 165-175] using parametric and semi-parametric estimation techniques for the memory parameter d. The bootstrap procedures considered are: the classical bootstrap in the residuals of the fitted model [B. Efron, R. Tibshirani, An Introduction to the Bootstrap, Chapman and Hall, New York, 1993], the bootstrap in the spectral density function [E. Paparoditis, D.N Politis, The local bootstrap for periodogram statistics. J. Time Ser. Anal. 20(2) (1999) 193-222], the bootstrap in the residuals resulting from the regression equation of the semi-parametric estimators [G.C Franco, V.A Reisen, Bootstrap techniques in semiparametric estimation methods for ARFIMA models: a comparison study, Comput. Statist. 19 (2004) 243-259] and the Sieve bootstrap [P. Bühlmann, Sieve bootstrap for time series, Bernoulli 3 (1997) 123-148]. The performance of these procedures and confidence intervals for d in the stationary and non-stationary ranges are empirically obtained through Monte Carlo experiments. The bootstrap confidence intervals here proposed are alternative procedures with some accuracy to obtain confidence intervals for d.

At long-range, shallow-water reverberation can be driven by sub-critical-angle scattering, i.e. by rough interrace scattering. The Naval Research Laboratory has recently developed a small-slope model for elastic seafloors that provides physics-based estimates of the dependence of scattering on the incident and scattered angles, and physical descriptors of the environment. In this paper, this incoherent model is used as kernels in reverberation models, which in turn are used to assess the sensitivity at 3.5 kHz of long-range monostatic reverberation to the roughness of the water-sediment interface. It is shown that when sub-critical-angle scattering dominates, the acoustic field could be quite sensitive to the parameter values of the roughness, thus arguing for the need for regional in-situ methods for its estimation.

This article contributes the highlights mainly in two folds. On the one hand, it presents a formula to compute the upper bound of the variance of the correlation periodogram measurement of teletraffic (traffic for short) with long-rangedependence (LRD) for a given record length T and a given value of the Hurst parameter H (Theorems 1 and 2). On the other hand, it proposes two formulas for the computation of the variance upper bound of the correlation periodogram measurement of traffic of fractional Gaussian noise (fGn) type and the generalized Cauchy (GC) type, respectively (Corollaries 1 and 2). They may constitute a reference guideline of record length requirement of traffic with LRD. In addition, record length requirement for the correlation periodogram measurement of traffic with either the Schuster type or the Bartlett one is studied and the present results about it show that both types of periodograms may be used for the correlation measurement of traffic with a pre-desired variance bound of correlation estimation. Moreover, real traffic in the Internet Archive by the Special Interest Group on Data Communication under the Association for Computing Machinery of US (ACM SIGCOMM) is analyzed in the case study in this topic.

Proximity Effects in electron beam lithography impact feature dimensions, pattern fidelity and uniformity. These effects are addressed using a mathematical model representing the radial exposure intensity distribution induced by a point electron source, commonly named as the Point Spread Function (PSF). PSF models are usually employed for predicting and compensating for effects up to 15μm. It is well known that there are also some process related phenomena that impact pattern uniformity that have a longer range, namely CMP effects, fogging, etc. Performing proximity effects corrections can result in lengthy run times as file size and pattern densities continue to increase exponentially per technology node. Running corrections for extreme longrange phenomena becomes computational and file size prohibitive. Nevertheless, since extreme longrange may reach up several millimeters, and new technology nodes require a high level of precision, a strategy for predicting and compensating these phenomena is crucial. In this paper a set of test patterns are presented in order to verify and calibrate the so called extreme longrange effects in the electron beam lithography. Moreover, a strategy to compensate for extreme longrange effects based on the pattern density is presented. Since the evaluation is based on a density map instead of the actual patterns, the computational effort is feasible. The proposed method may be performed off-line (in contrast to machine standard in-line correction). The advantage of employing off-line compensation relies on enhancing the employ of dose and/or geometry modulation. This strategy also has the advantage of being completely decoupled from other e-beam writer's internal corrections (like Fogging Effect Correction - FEC).

The arguments are given that local exponents obtained in multifractal analysis by two methods: wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM) and multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MDFA) allow to separate statistically hearts of healthy people and subjects suffering from reduced left ventricle systolic function (NYHA I-III class). Proposed indices of fractality suggest that a signal of human heart rate is a mixture of two processes: monofractal and multifractal ones.

The classical quantile distributions in existing flood studies often rely on two hypotheses that are questionable: stationarity and independency of the components of the time series. We discuss how to better (statistically) predict the floods by using a physically based approach that accounts longrangedependencies and the clustering of extremes often resulting in fat tailed (i.e., an algebraic type) probability distributions. It established on systems that respect a scale symmetry over a wide range of space-time scales to determine the relationship between flood magnitude and return period for a wide range of aggregation periods. The results were obtained during the CEATI Project "Multifractals and physically based estimates of extreme floods". The ambition of this project was to investigate very large data sets of reasonable quality (e.g., daily stream flow data recorded for at least 20 years for several thousands of gages distributed all over Canada and the USA). The multifractal parameters such as the mean intermittency parameter and the multifractality index were estimated on 8332 time series. Obtained results demonstrate that beyond the classical sampling of the extremes and its limitations, there is the possibility to eliminate long-rangedependency by uncovering a stochastic process whose fractional integration would generate the observed long-rangedependentprocess. The results confirm the dependence of parameter estimates on the length of available data. Then developing a metric for parameter estimation error became a principal step in uncertainty evaluation with respect to the multifractal estimates. A technique for estimating confidence intervals with the help of a Bayesian approach was developed. A detailed comparison of multifractal quantile plots and paleoflood data validates the forthcoming use of the multifractal flood frequency analysis.

Since the existence of market memory could implicate the rejection of the efficient market hypothesis, the aim of this paper is to find any evidence that selected emergent capital markets (eight European and BRIC markets, namely Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Brazil, Russia, India and China) evince long-rangedependence or the random walk hypothesis. In this paper, the Hurst exponent as calculated by R/S fractal analysis and Detrended Fluctuation Analysis is our measure of long-rangedependence in the series. The results reinforce our previous findings and suggest that if stock returns present long-rangedependence, the random walk hypothesis is not valid anymore and neither is the market efficiency hypothesis.

Long-rangedependence and non-Gaussianity are ubiquitous in many natural systems like ecosystems, biological systems and climate. However, it is not always appreciated that both phenomena may occur together in natural systems and that self-similarity in a system can be a superposition of both phenomena. These features, which are common in complex systems, impact the attribution of trends and the occurrence and clustering of extremes. The risk assessment of systems with these properties will lead to different outcomes (e.g. return periods) than the more common assumption of independence of extremes. Two paradigmatic models are discussed which can simultaneously account for long-rangedependence and non-Gaussianity: Autoregressive Fractional Integrated Moving Average (ARFIMA) and Linear Fractional Stable Motion (LFSM). Statistical properties of estimators for long-rangedependence and self-similarity are critically assessed. It is found that the most popular estimators can be biased in the presence of important features of many natural systems like trends and multiplicative noise. Also the long-rangedependence and non-Gaussianity of two typical natural time series are discussed.

The existence of very light weakly interacting particles that mediate new longrange forces has been suggested in many extensions of the Standard Model. Such particles span a length scale between a μm and a few meters and include axions, familons, Majorons,and arions. Parameterizations of forces in this range show that they are composite-dependent, have a Yukawa shape, and have both spin-dependent as well as spin independent components. Very stringent limits on spin-independent couplings exist. For longrange spin dependent forces, limits are weaker by 20 orders of magnitude compared to their spin independent analogs. The disparity in the limits raises the question of whether interesting limits on spin dependent couplings can be inferred from spin independent searches for longrange forces. We show that this is possible using higher order contributions corresponding to double boson exchange and report the limits placed on spin dependent couplings using this method. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Indiana University and the National Science Foundation. The first author also acknowdges King Abdullah scholarship program.

Transportation simulation technologies should accurately model traffic demand, distribution, and assignment parame- ters for urban environment simulation. These three param- eters significantly impact transportation engineering bench- mark process, are also critical in realizing realistic traffic modeling situations. In this paper, we model and charac- terize traffic density distribution of thousands of locations around the world. The traffic densities are generated from millions of images collected over several years and processed using computer vision techniques. The resulting traffic den- sity distribution time series are then analyzed. It is found using the goodness-of-fit test that the traffic density dis- tributions follows heavy-tail models such as Log-gamma, Log-logistic, and Weibull in over 90% of analyzed locations. Moreover, a heavy-tail gives rise to long-rangedependence and self-similarity, which we studied by estimating the Hurst exponent (H). Our analysis based on seven different Hurst estimators strongly indicate that the traffic distribution pat- terns are stochastically self-similar (0.5 H 1.0). We believe this is an important finding that will influence the design and development of the next generation traffic simu- lation techniques and also aid in accurately modeling traffic engineering of urban systems. In addition, it shall provide a much needed input for the development of smart cities.

Measured sea-ice draft exhibits variations on all scales. We regard draft profiles up to several hundred kilometers in length as being drawn from a stationary stochastic process. We focus on the estimation of the mean draft ? of the process. This elementary statistic is typically computed from a profile segment of length L and has some uncertainty, or sampling error, that is quantified by its variance σL2. How efficiently can the variance of ? be reduced by the use of more data, that is, by increasing L? Three properties of the data indicate the need for a non-standard statistical model: the variance σ2L of ? falls off more slowly than L-1; the autocorrelation sequence does not fall rapidly to zero; and the spectrum does not flatten off with decreasing wave number. These indicate that ice draft exhibits, as a fundamental geometric property, `long-rangedependence.' One good model for this dependence is a fractionally differenced process, whose variance σL2 is proportional to L-1+2δ. From submarine ice draft data in the Arctic Ocean, we find δ = 0.27. Mean draft estimated from a 50-km sample has a sample standard deviation of 0.29 m; for 200 km, it is 0.21 m. Tabulated values provide the sample standard deviation σL for various values of L for samples both in a straight line and in a rosette or spoke pattern, allowing for the efficient design of observational programs to measure draft to a desired accuracy.

Structural colored materials have attracted increasing attention due to their vivid color effects and non-photobleaching characteristics. However, the angle dependence of these structural colors severely restricts their practical applications, for example, in display and sensing devices. Here, a new strategy for obtaining low angle dependent structural colors is demonstrated by fabricating long-range ordered photonic crystal films. By using spheres with high refractive indices as building blocks, the angle dependence of the obtained colors has been strongly suppressed. Green, golden yellow and red structural colored films with low angle dependence were obtained by using 145 nm, 165 nm and 187 nm Cu2O spheres as building blocks, respectively. SEM images confirmed the long-range highly ordered arrays of the Cu2O photonic crystal films. Reflectance spectra and digital photographs clearly demonstrate the low angle dependence of these structural colors, which is in sharp comparison with the case of polystyrene (PS) and SiO2 photonic crystal films. Furthermore, these structural colors are vivid with high color saturation, not only under black background, but also under white background and natural light without adding any light-absorbing agents. These low angle dependent structural colors endow Cu2O photonic crystal films with great potential in practical applications. Our findings may broaden the strategies for the design and fabrication of angle independent structural colored materials.

The integration of segregated brain functional modules is a prerequisite for conscious awareness during wakeful rest. Here, we test the hypothesis that temporal integration, measured as long-term memory in the history of neural activity, is another important quality underlying conscious awareness. For this aim, we study the temporal memory of blood oxygen level-dependent signals across the human nonrapid eye movement sleep cycle. Results reveal that this property gradually decreases from wakefulness to deep nonrapid eye movement sleep and that such decreases affect areas identified with default mode and attention networks. Although blood oxygen level-dependent spontaneous fluctuations exhibit nontrivial spatial organization, even during deep sleep, they also display a decreased temporal complexity in specific brain regions. Conversely, this result suggests that long-range temporal dependence might be an attribute of the spontaneous conscious mentation performed during wakeful rest. PMID:24003146

Molecular dynamics simulations are essential to the correct interpretation of the response measured in time-dependent Stokes shift (TDSS) experiments of fluorescent probe molecules in biological environments. Within linear response theory, the TDSS response is the time correlation function of the fluctuations of ΔE(t), the difference between the solute environment interaction energy with the probe, modeled in both its electronically excited and ground states. ΔE(t) is dominated by electrostatic interactions between the environment and the ground- and excited-state charge distributions of the probe. The treatment of the long-ranged electrostatics in the calculation of the TDSS response in MD simulations is systematically investigated for three probes in aqueous solution: a model diatomic, coumarin 102, and Hoechst 33258. Nine different protocols for the treatment of the electrostatics were compared to particle mesh Ewald (PME), which was utilized as a reference standard. A computationally efficient pairwise alternative to PME, the damped shifted force method, was shown to reproduce the TDSS response calculated with PME for all three systems. In contrast, neglecting the role of the long-ranged electrostatics in the calculation of the TDSS response results in artifacts.

A well-known fact in the financial markets is the so-called ‘inverse cubic law’ of the cumulative distributions of the long-range memory fluctuations of market indicators such as a number of events of trades, trading volume and the logarithmic price change. We propose the nonlinear stochastic differential equation (SDE) giving both the power-law behavior of the power spectral density and the long-rangedependent inverse cubic law of the cumulative distribution. This is achieved using the suggestion that when the market evolves from calm to violent behavior there is a decrease of the delay time of multiplicative feedback of the system in comparison to the driving noise correlation time. This results in a transition from the Itô to the Stratonovich sense of the SDE and yields a long-range memory process.

When a dark chromatic contour delineating a figure is flanked on the inside by a brighter chromatic contour, the brighter color will spread into the entire enclosed area. This is known as the watercolor effect (WCE). Here we quantified the effect of color spreading using both color-matching and hue-cancellation tasks. Over a wide range of stimulus chromaticities, there was a reliable shift in color appearance that closely followed the direction of the inducing contour. When the contours were equated in luminance, the WCE was still present, but weak. The magnitude of the color spreading increased with increases in luminance contrast between the two contours. Additionally, as the luminance contrast between the contours increased, the chromaticity of the induced color more closely resembled that of the inside contour. The results support the hypothesis that the WCE is mediated by luminance-dependent mechanisms of long-range color assimilation. PMID:15743611

Using sampled historical daily gold market data from 07-03-1985 to 06-01-2015, and building on a related work by Bentes (2016), this paper examines the presence of long-rangedependence (LRD) in the world's gold market returns and volatility, accounting for structural breaks. The sampled gold market data was divided into subsamples based on four global crises: the September 1992 collapse of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), the Asian financial crisis of mid-1997, the Subprime meltdown of 2007, and the recent European sovereign debt crisis, which hit the world's market with varying effects. LRD test was carried-out on the full-sample and subsample periods using three semiparametric methods-before and after adjusting for structural breaks. The results show insignificant evidence of LRD in gold returns. However, very diminutive evidence is found for periods characterized by financial/economic shocks, with no significant detections for post-shock periods. Collectively, this is indicative that the gold market is less speculative, and hence could be somehow less risky for hedging and portfolio diversification.

Using high frequency data, this paper examines the long memory property in the unconditional and conditional volatility of the USD/INR exchange rate at different time scales using the Local Whittle (LW), the Exact Local Whittle (ELW) and the FIAPARCH models. Results indicate that the long memory property remains quite stable across different time scales for both unconditional and conditional volatility measures. Results from the non-overlapping moving window approach indicate that the extreme events (such as the subprime crisis and the European debt crisis) resulted in highly persistent behavior of the USD/INR exchange rate and thus lead to market inefficiency. This paper also examines the long memory property in the realized volatility based on different time scale data. Results indicate that the realized volatility measures based on different scales of the high frequency data exhibit a consistent and stable long memory property. However, the realized volatility measures based on daily data exhibit lower degree of long-rangedependence. This study has implications for traders and investors (with different trading horizons) and can be helpful in predicting expected future volatility and in designing and implementing trading strategies at different time scales.

Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is used to examine long-rangedependence in variations and volatilities of American treasury bills (TB) during periods of low and high movements in TB rates. Volatility series are estimated by generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model under Gaussian, Student, and the generalized error distribution (GED) assumptions. The DFA-based Hurst exponents from 3-month, 6-month, and 1-year TB data indicates that in general the dynamics of the TB variations process is characterized by persistence during stable time period (before 2008 international financial crisis) and anti-persistence during unstable time period (post-2008 international financial crisis). For volatility series, it is found that; for stable period; 3-month volatility process is more likely random, 6-month volatility process is anti-persistent, and 1-year volatility process is persistent. For unstable period, estimation results show that the generating process is persistent for all maturities and for all distributional assumptions.

Recent studies have shown that many physiological and behavioral processes can be characterized by long-range correlations. The Hurst exponent H of fractal analysis and the fractional-differencing parameter d of the ARFIMA methodology are useful for capturing serial correlations. In this study, we report on different estimators of H and d implemented in R, a popular and freely available software package. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, we analyzed the performance of (1) the Geweke-Porter-Hudak estimator, (2) the approximate maximum likelihood algorithm, (3) the smoothed periodogram approach, (4) the Whittle estimator, (5) rescaled range analysis, (6) a modified periodogram, (7) Higuchi's method, and (8) detrended fluctuation analysis. The findings-confined to ARFIMA (0, d, 0) models and fractional Gaussian noise-identify the best estimators for persistent and antipersistent series. Two examples combining these results with the step-by-step procedure proposed by Delignières et al. (2006) demonstrate how this evaluation can be used as a guideline in a typical research situation.

The understanding of the long-range correlations (LRC) observed in DNA sequences is still an open and very challenging problem. In this paper, we start reviewing recent results obtained when exploring the scaling properties of eucaryotic, eubacterial and archaeal genomic sequences using the space-scale decomposition provided by the wavelet transform (WT). These results suggest that the existence of LRC up to distances ˜ 20-30kbp is the signature of the nucleosomal structure and dynamics of the chromatin fiber. Actually the LRC are mainly observed in the DNA bending profiles obtained when using some structural coding of the DNA sequences that accounts for the fluctuations of the local double-helix curvature within the nucleosome complex. Because of the approximate planarity of nucleosomal DNA loops, we then study the influence of the LRC structural disorder on the thermodynamical properties of 2D elastic chains submitted locally to mechanical/topological constraint as loops. The equilibrium properties of the one-loop system are derived numerically and analytically in the quite realistic weak-disorder limit. The LRC are shown to favor the spontaneous formation of small loops, the larger the LRC, the smaller the size of the loop. We further investigate the dynamical behavior of such a loop using the mean first passage time (MFPT) formalism. We show that the typical short-time loop dynamics is superdiffusive in the presence of LRC. For displacements larger than the loop size, we use large-deviation theory to derive a LRC-dependent anomalous-diffusion rule that accounts for the lack of disorder self-averaging. Potential biological implications on DNA loops involved in nucleosome positioning and dynamics in eucaryotic chromatin are discussed.

Memory crucially depends on the way information is processed during encoding. Differences in processes during encoding not only lead to differences in memory performance but also rely on different brain networks. Although these assumptions are corroborated by several previous fMRI and ERP studies, little is known about how brain oscillations dissociate between different memory encoding tasks. The present study therefore compared encoding related brain oscillatory activity elicited by two very efficient encoding tasks: a typical deep semantic item feature judgment task and a more elaborative survival encoding task. Subjects were asked to judge words either for survival relevance or for animacy, as indicated by a cue presented prior to the item. This allowed dissociating pre-item activity from item-related activity for both tasks. Replicating prior studies, survival processing led to higher recognition performance than semantic processing. Successful encoding in the semantic condition was reflected by a strong decrease in alpha and beta power, whereas successful encoding in the survival condition was related to increased alpha and beta long-range phase synchrony. Moreover, a pre-item subsequent memory effect in theta power was found which did not vary with encoding condition. These results show that measures of local synchrony (power) and global longrange-synchrony (phase synchronization) dissociate between memory encoding processes. Whereas semantic encoding was reflected in decreases in local synchrony, increases in global longrange synchrony were related to elaborative survival encoding, presumably reflecting the involvement of a more widespread cortical network in this task.

Relaxational processes in ordered phases of one-dimensional Ising models with long-range interactions are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. Three types of spin model, the pure ferromagnetic, the diluted ferromagnetic, and the spin glass models, are examined. The effective dimension of the one-dimensional systems are controlled by a parameter σ , which tunes the rate of interaction decay. Systematical investigations of droplet dynamics, from the lower to the upper critical dimension, are conducted by changing the value of σ . Comparing numerical data with the droplet theory, it is found that the surface dimension of droplets is distributed around the effective dimension. The distribution in the surface dimension makes the droplet dynamics complex and extremely enhances dynamical crossover.

Relaxational processes in ordered phases of one-dimensional Ising models with long-range interactions are investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. Three types of spin model, the pure ferromagnetic, the diluted ferromagnetic, and the spin glass models, are examined. The effective dimension of the one-dimensional systems are controlled by a parameter σ, which tunes the rate of interaction decay. Systematical investigations of droplet dynamics, from the lower to the upper critical dimension, are conducted by changing the value of σ. Comparing numerical data with the droplet theory, it is found that the surface dimension of droplets is distributed around the effective dimension. The distribution in the surface dimension makes the droplet dynamics complex and extremely enhances dynamical crossover.

Mineral aerosols interact with radiation directly, as well as modifying climate, and provide important micronutrients to ocean and land ecosystems. Mineral aerosols are transported long distances from the source regions to remote regions, but the rates at which this occurs can be difficult to deduce from either observations or models. Here we consider interactions between the details of the simulation of dust size and long-range transport. In addition, we compare simulations of dust using multiple reanalysis datasets, as well as different model basis to understand how robust the mean, seasonality and interannual variability are in models. Models can provide insight into how long observations are required in order to characterize the atmospheric concentration and deposition to remote regions.

In this paper we investigate the dynamics of an asymmetric exclusion process on a one-dimensional lattice with long-range hopping and random update via Monte Carlo simulations theoretically. Particles in the model will firstly try to hop over successive unoccupied sites with a probability q, which is different from previous exclusion process models. The probability q may represent the random access of particles. Numerical simulations for stationary particle currents, density profiles, and phase diagrams are obtained. There are three possible stationary phases: the low density (LD) phase, high density (HD) phase, and maximal current (MC) in the system, respectively. Interestingly, bulk density in the LD phase tends to zero, while the MC phase is governed by α, β, and q. The HD phase is nearly the same as the normal TASEP, determined by exit rate β. Theoretical analysis is in good agreement with simulation results. The proposed model may provide a better understanding of random interaction dynamics in complex systems. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41274109 and 11104022), the Fund for Sichuan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Research Team (Grant No. 2011JTD0013), and the Creative Team Program of Chengdu University of Technology.

We present the analysis aimed at the estimation of flood risks of Tisza River in Hungary on the basis of daily river discharge data registered in the last 100 years. The deseasonalised series has skewed and leptokurtic distribution and various methods suggest that it possesses substantial long memory. This motivates the attempt to fit a fractional ARIMA model with non-Gaussian innovations as a first step. Synthetic streamflow series can then be generated from the bootstrapped innovations. However, there remains a significant difference between the empirical and the synthetic density functions as well as the quantiles. This brings attention to the fact that the innovations are not independent, both their squares and absolute values are autocorrelated. Furthermore, the innovations display non-seasonal periods of high and low variances. This behaviour is characteristic to generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) models. However, when innovations are simulated as GARCH processes, the quantiles and extremes of the discharge series are heavily overestimated. Therefore we suggest to fit a smooth transition GARCH-process to the innovations. In a standard GARCH model the dependence of the variance on the lagged innovation is quadratic whereas in our proposed model it is a bounded function. While preserving long memory and eliminating the correlation from both the generating noise and from its square, the new model is superior to the previously mentioned ones in approximating the probability density, the high quantiles and the extremal behaviour of the empirical river flows.

We investigate the nonequilibrium phase transition in the disordered contact process in the presence of long-range spatial disorder correlations. These correlations greatly increase the probability for finding rare regions that are locally in the active phase while the bulk system is still in the inactive phase. Specifically, if the correlations decay as a power of the distance, the rare-region probability is a stretched exponential of the rare-region size rather than a simple exponential as is the case for uncorrelated disorder. As a result, the Griffiths singularities are enhanced and take a non-power-law form. The critical point itself is of infinite-randomness type but with critical exponent values that differ from the uncorrelated case. We report large-scale Monte Carlo simulations that verify and illustrate our theory. We also discuss generalizations to higher dimensions and applications to other systems such as the random transverse-field Ising model, itinerant magnets, and the superconductor-metal transition.

Objective. In this work we propose the use of conditional random fields with long-rangedependencies for the classification of finger movements from electrocorticographic recordings. Approach. The proposed method uses long-rangedependencies taking into consideration time-lags between the brain activity and the execution of the motor task. In addition, the proposed method models the dynamics of the task executed by the subject and uses information about these dynamics as prior information during the classification stage. Main results. The results show that incorporating temporal information about the executed task as well as incorporating long-rangedependencies between the brain signals and the labels effectively increases the system’s classification performance compared to methods in the state of art. Significance. The method proposed in this work makes use of probabilistic graphical models to incorporate temporal information in the classification of finger movements from electrocorticographic recordings. The proposed method highlights the importance of including prior information about the task that the subjects execute. As the results show, the combination of these two features effectively produce a significant improvement of the system’s classification performance.

Evidence for long-rangedependence and non-Gaussianity is ubiquitous in many natural systems like ecosystems, biological systems and climate. However, it is not always appreciated that both phenomena frequently occur together in natural systems, and that self-similarity of a system can result from the superposition of both phenomena. These features, which are common in complex systems, impact the attribution of trends and the occurrence and clustering of extremes. The risk assessment of systems posessing these properties will lead to different outcomes (e.g. return periods) than the more common assumption of independence of extremes. We discuss two paradigmatic models which can simultaneously account for long-rangedependence and non-Gaussianity: Autoregressive Fractional Integrated Moving Average (ARFIMA) and Linear Fractional Stable Motion (LFSM). The statistical properties of estimators for long-rangedependence and self-similarity are critically assessed as applied to these models. It is seen that the most popular estimators are not robust. In particular, they can be biased in the presence of important features of many natural systems like annual cycles, trends and multiplicative noise. [Related paper in press, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. A; preprint at arXiv:1101.5018

The concepts of long-range planning and strategic planning are explained, and a planning model is proposed. Attention is directed to an environmental scanning model that is congruent with the concept of strategic planning and that emerges from one portion of the futures research community, issues management. A third planning model, the strategic…

In this paper, the efficient market hypothesis is tested for China, Hong Kong and Singapore by means of the long memory dependence approach. We find evidence suggesting that Hong Kong is the most efficient market followed by Chinese A type shares and Singapore and finally by Chinese B type shares, which suggests that liquidity and capital restrictions may play a role in explaining results of market efficiency tests.

A systematic route to go beyond the exact exchange plus random phase approximation (RPA) is to include a physical exchange-correlation kernel in the adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Previously, [D. Lu, J. Chem. Phys. 140, 18A520 (2014)], we found that non-local kernels with a screening length depending on the local Wigner-Seitz radius, rs(r), suffer an error associated with a spurious long-range repulsion in van der Waals bounded systems, which deteriorates the binding energy curve as compared to RPA. Here, we analyze the source of the error and propose to replace rs(r) by a global, average rs in the kernel. Exemplary studies withmore » the Corradini, del Sole, Onida, and Palummo kernel show that while this change does not affect the already outstanding performance in crystalline solids, using an average rs significantly reduces the spurious long-range tail in the exchange-correlation kernel in van der Waals bounded systems. Finally, when this method is combined with further corrections using local dielectric response theory, the binding energy of the Kr dimer is improved three times as compared to RPA.« less

A systematic route to go beyond the exact exchange plus random phase approximation (RPA) is to include a physical exchange-correlation kernel in the adiabatic-connection fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Previously, [D. Lu, J. Chem. Phys. 140, 18A520 (2014)], we found that non-local kernels with a screening length depending on the local Wigner-Seitz radius, rs(r), suffer an error associated with a spurious long-range repulsion in van der Waals bounded systems, which deteriorates the binding energy curve as compared to RPA. Here, we analyze the source of the error and propose to replace rs(r) by a global, average rs in the kernel. Exemplary studies with the Corradini, del Sole, Onida, and Palummo kernel show that while this change does not affect the already outstanding performance in crystalline solids, using an average rs significantly reduces the spurious long-range tail in the exchange-correlation kernel in van der Waals bounded systems. Finally, when this method is combined with further corrections using local dielectric response theory, the binding energy of the Kr dimer is improved three times as compared to RPA.

We present a consistent linear response formulation of the density functional based tight-binding method for long-range corrected exchange-correlation functionals (LC-DFTB). Besides a detailed account of derivation and implementation of the method, we also test the new scheme on a variety of systems considered to be problematic for conventional local/semilocal time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). To this class belong the optical properties of polyacenes and nucleobases, as well as charge transfer excited states in molecular dimers. We find that the approximate LC-DFTB method exhibits the same general trends and similar accuracy as range-separated DFT methods at significantly reduced computational cost. The scheme should be especially useful in the determination of the electronic excited states of very large molecules, for which conventional TD-DFT is supposed to fail due to a multitude of artificial low energy states.

existing theory to the environments with strong range dependence. In addition, a study of oceanic acoustic response to acidification has been made...implementation. The second paper is a study of ambient noise level change in the ocean due to acidification . Also two papers devoted to the modal analysis...addition, a study of oceanic acoustic response to acidification has been made. Two papers have been published during this study. The first paper focuses

Splicing is a predominantly co-transcriptional process that has been shown to be tightly coupled to transcription. Chromatin structure is a key factor that mediates this functional coupling. In light of recent evidence that shows the importance of higher order chromatin organization in the coordination and regulation of gene expression, we discuss here the possible roles of long-range chromatin organization in splicing and alternative splicing regulation. PMID:25764333

We show that X-ray pulses resonant with selected core transitions can manipulate electron transfer (ET) in molecules with ultrafast and atomic selectivity. We present possible protocols for coherently controlling ET dynamics in donor–bridge–acceptor (DBA) systems by stimulated X-ray resonant Raman processes involving various transitions between the D, B, and A sites. Simulations presented for a Ru(II)–Co(III) model complex demonstrate how the shapes, phases and amplitudes of the X-ray pulses can be optimized to create charge on demand at selected atoms, by opening up otherwise blocked ET pathways. PMID:27559082

The immunoglobulin intragenic μ enhancer region acts as a locus control region that mediates transcriptional activation over large distances in germ line transformation assays. In transgenic mice, but not in transfected tissue culture cells, the activation of a variable region (VH) promoter by the μ enhancer is dependent on flanking nuclear matrix attachment regions (MARs). Here, we examine the effects of DNA methylation, which occurs in early mouse development, on the function of the μ enhancer and the MARs. We find that methylation of rearranged μ genes in vitro, before transfection, represses the ability of the μ enhancer to activate the VH promoter over the distance of 1.2 kb. However, methylation does not affect enhancer-mediated promoter activation over a distance of 150 bp. In methylated DNA templates, the μ enhancer alone induces only local chromatin remodeling, whereas in combination with MARs, the μ enhancer generates an extended domain of histone acetylation. These observations provide evidence that DNA methylation impairs the distance independence of enhancer function and thereby imposes a requirement for additional regulatory elements, such as MARs, which facilitate long-range chromatin remodeling. PMID:10580007

The majority of previous functional/effective connectivity studies conducted on the autistic patients converged to the underconnectivity theory of ASD: "long-range underconnectivity and sometimes short-rang overconnectivity". However, to the best of our knowledge the total (linear and nonlinear) predictive information transfers (PITs) of autistic patients have not been investigated yet. Also, EEG data have rarely been used for exploring the information processing deficits in autistic subjects. This study is aimed at comparing the total (linear and nonlinear) PITs of autistic and typically developing healthy youths during human face processing by using EEG data. The ERPs of 12 autistic youths and 19 age-matched healthy control (HC) subjects were recorded while they were watching upright and inverted human face images. The PITs among EEG channels were quantified using two measures separately: transfer entropy with self-prediction optimality (TESPO), and modified transfer entropy with self-prediction optimality (MTESPO). Afterwards, the directed differential connectivity graphs (dDCGs) were constructed to characterize the significant changes in the estimated PITs of autistic subjects compared with HC ones. By using both TESPO and MTESPO, long-range reduction of PITs of ASD group during face processing was revealed (particularly from frontal channels to right temporal channels). Also, it seemed the orientation of face images (upright or upside down) did not modulate the binary pattern of PIT-based dDCGs, significantly. Moreover, compared with TESPO, the results of MTESPO were more compatible with the underconnectivity theory of ASD in the sense that MTESPO showed no long-range increase in PIT. It is also noteworthy that to the best of our knowledge it is the first time that a version of MTE is applied for patients (here ASD) and it is also its first use for EEG data analysis.

As the design rule with wafer process is getting smaller down below 50nm node, the specification of CDs on a mask is getting more tightened. Therefore, more tight and accurate E-Beam Lithography simulation is highly required in these days. However, in reality most of E-Beam simulation cases, there is a trade-off relationship between the accuracy and the simulation speed. Moreover, the necessity of full chip based simulation has been increasing in order to estimate more accurate mask CDs based on real process condition. Therefore, without consideration of longrange correction algorithm such as fogging effect and loading effect correction in E-beam machine, it would be impossible and meaningless to pursue the full chip based simulation. In this paper, we introduce a breakthrough method to overcome the obstacles of E-Beam simulation. In-house E-beam simulator, ELIS (E-beam LIthography Simulator), has been upgraded to solve these problems. First, DP (Distributed Processing) strategy was applied to improve calculation speed. Secondly, the longrange correction algorithm of E-beam machine was also applied to compute intensity of exposure on a full chip based (Mask). Finally, ELIS-DP has been evaluated possibility of expecting or analyzing CDs on full chip base.

This summary of a meeting of the Apple Education Advisory Council, on longrange technology plans at the state, county, district, and school levels, includes highlights from group discussions on future planning, staff development, and curriculum. Three longrange technology plans at the state level are provided: LongRange Educational Technology…

In this work we present a study of the excitation energies of adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine and the adenine-thymine (AT) and guanine-cytosine (GC) base pairs using long-range corrected (LC) density functional theory. We compare three recent LC-functionals, BNL, CAM-B3LYP and LC-PBE0 with B3LYP and coupled cluster results from the literature. We find that the best overall performance is for the BNL functional based on LDA. However, in order to achieve this good agreement a smaller attenuation parameter was needed which leads to non-optimum performance for ground state properties. B3LYP, on the other hand, severely underestimates the charge transfer (CT) transitions in the base pairs. Surprisingly we also find that the CAM-B3LYP functional also underestimates the CT excitation energy for the GC base pair, but correctly describes the AT base pair. This illustrates the importance of retaining the full long-range exact exchange even at distances as short as that of the DNA base pairs. The worst overall performance was obtained with the LC-PBE0 functional which overestimates the excitations for the individual bases as well as the base pairs. It is therefore crucial to strike a good balance between the amount of local and long-range exact exchange.

A three-dimensional Eulerian atmospheric long-range transport model of radon-222 ({sup 222}Rn) and lead-210 ({sup 210}Pb) coupled with meteorological model MM5 was developed. The model calculates advection, diffusion, radiation decay and deposition processes in a horizontal scale of several thousand kilometers. This model was applied to East Asia. Performance of the model was evaluated with measured hourly surface air {sup 222}Rn concentration and monthly {sup 210}Pb deposition. The model verification was done with respect to the following points: 1) the sensitivity of vertical distribution of turbulent diffusivity and 2) the accuracy of spatial distribution of precipitation. In this report, improvement of the model performance is also discussed.

A case of long-range transport of a biomass burning plume from Alaska to Europe is analyzed using a Lagrangian approach. This plume was sampled several times in the free troposphere over North America, the North Atlantic and Europe by 3 different aircraft during the IGAC Lagrangian 2K4 experiment which was part of the ICARTT/ITOP measurement intensive in summer 2004. Measurements in the plume showed enhanced values of CO, VOCs and NOy, mainly in form of PAN. Observed O3 levels increased by 17 ppbv over 5 days. A photochemical trajectory model, CiTTyCAT, is used to examine processes responsible for the chemical evolution of the plume. The model was initialized with upwind data, and compared with downwind measurements. The influence of high aerosol loading on photolysis rates in the plume is investigated using in-situ aerosol measurements in the plume and lidar retrievals of optical depth as input into a photolysis code (Fast-J), run in the model. Significant impacts on photochemistry are found with a decrease of 18 percent in O3 production and 24 percent in O3 destruction over 5 days when including aerosols. The plume is found to be chemically active with large O3 increases attributed primarily to PAN decomposition during descent of the plume towards Europe. The predicted O3 changes are very dependent on temperature changes during transport, and also, on water vapor levels in the lower troposphere which can lead to O3 destruction. Simulation of mixing/dilution was necessary to reproduce observed pollutants level in the plume. Mixing was simulated using background concentrations from measurements in air masses in close proximity to the plume, and mixing timescales (averaging 6.25 days) were derived from CO changes. Observed and simulated O3/CO correlations in the plume are also compared in order to evaluate the photochemistry in the model. Observed slopes changed from negative to positive over 5 days. This change, which can be attributed largely to photochemistry, is

First-principles density functional theory (DFT) is used to study the solid-state modifications of carbon dioxide up to pressures of 60 GPa. All known molecular CO2 structures are investigated in this pressure range, as well as three non-molecular modifications. To account for long-range van der Waals interactions, the dispersion corrected DFT method developed by Grimme and co-workers (DFT-D3) is applied. We find that the DFT-D3 method substantially improves the results compared to the uncorrected DFT methods for the molecular carbon dioxide crystals. Enthalpies at 0 K and cohesive energies support only one possibility of the available experimental solutions for the structure of phase IV: the Roverline{3}c modification, proposed by Datchi and co-workers [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 185701 (2009)]. Furthermore, comparing bulk moduli with experimental values, we cannot reproduce the quite large—rather typical for covalent crystal structures—experimental values for the molecular phases II and III.

The electronic coupling that mediates energy transfer in molecular aggregates is theoretically investigated using the principles of quantum electrodynamics (QED). In this context, both the electromagnetic tensor and rate equation relating to these couplings are re-examined with a focus on the role of the relative distance and orientation of transition dipole moment pairs, considering near-, intermediate-, and far-zone contributions to the coupling. The QED based coupling terms are investigated both analytically and numerically, and they are physically interpreted in terms of the character of the mediating (virtual) photons. The spatial dependence of the couplings for a two-dimensional molecular aggregate of ordered and isotropic transition dipole moments is numerically calculated. Further, Pauli Master Equations are employed for a one-dimensional chain of molecules and donor-acceptor pairs, to investigate the importance of intermediate- and far-zone contributions to the electronic coupling on electronic energy transfer dynamics. The results indicate that although Förster theory is often qualitatively and quantitatively correct for describing electronic energy transfer (EET) processes, intermediate- and far-zone coupling terms could sometimes be non-negligible for correctly describing EET in natural and artificial, mesoscopic, solar energy harvesting systems. In particular, the results indicate that these terms are non-negligible when using Förster resonance energy transfer spectroscopic ruler techniques for distances >10 nm.

We analyze long-range transport through an ac driven triple quantum dot with a single electron. Resonant transitions between separated and detuned dots are mediated by the exchange of n photons with the time-dependent field. An effective model is proposed in terms of second order (cotunneling) processes which dominate the long-range transport between the edge quantum dots. The ac field renormalizes the inter dot hopping, modifying the level hybridization. It results in a non-trivial behavior of the current with the frequency and amplitude of the external ac field.

Improving the ability of global models to predict concentrations of black carbon (BC) over the Pacific Ocean is essential to evaluate the impact of BC on marine climate. In this study, we tag BC tracers from 13 source regions around the globe in a global chemical transport model MOZART-4. Numerous sensitivity simulations are carried out varying the aging timescale of BC emitted from each source region. The aging timescale for each source region is optimized by minimizing errors in vertical profiles of BC mass mixing ratios between simulations and HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO). For most HIPPO deployments, in the Northern Hemisphere, optimized aging timescales are less than half a day for BC emitted from tropical and mid-latitude source regions, and about 1 week for BC emitted from high latitude regions in all seasons except summer. We find that East Asian emissions contribute most to the BC loading over the North Pacific, while South American, African and Australian emissions dominate BC loadings over the South Pacific. Dominant source regions contributing to BC loadings in other parts of the globe are also assessed. The lifetime of BC originating from East Asia (i.e., the world's largest BC emitter) is found to be only 2.2 days, much shorter than the global average lifetime of 4.9 days, making East Asia's contribution to global burden only 36 % of BC from the second largest emitter, Africa. Thus, evaluating only relative emission rates without accounting for differences in aging timescales and deposition rates is not predictive of the contribution of a given source region to climate impacts. Our simulations indicate that lifetime of BC increases nearly linearly with aging timescale for all source regions. When aging rate is fast, the lifetime of BC is largely determined by factors that control local deposition rates (e.g. precipitation). The sensitivity of lifetime to aging timescale depends strongly on the initial hygroscopicity of freshly emitted BC

timescale depends strongly on the initial hygroscopicity of freshly emitted BC. Our findings suggest that the aging timescale of BC varies significantly by region and season and can strongly influence the contribution of source regions to BC burdens around the globe. Therefore, improving parameterizations of the aging process for BC is important for enhancing the predictive skill of global models. Future observations that investigate the evolution of the hygroscopicity of BC as it ages from different source regions to the remote atmosphere are urgently needed.

This document presents Jefferson College's "LongRange Plan," which is intended to provide the College's governing board, administration, and faculty and staff with a task-oriented blueprint for maximizing the delivery of higher education services to students and the community in a predictable, programmatic, and fiscally sound manner.…

Richard Muther range facilities Many alterna- analysis indi- cated that if NASSCO ever expected to surpass its output of the last several years, current...Marine Engineers (SNAME) SP-1 Panel Meeting. The Maritime Administration had Richard Muther (an authority on longrange facility planning) address a

The visual texture of pork ham slices reveals information about the different qualities and perceived image heterogeneity, which is encapsulated as spatial variations in geometry and spectral characteristics. Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) detects long-range correlations in nonstationary spatial sequences, by a self-similarity scaling exponent alpha. In the current work, the aim is to investigate the usefulness of alpha, using different colour channels (R, G, B, L*, a*, b*, H, S, V, and Grey), as a quantitative descriptor of visual texture in sliced ham surface patterns for the detection of long-range correlations in unidimensional spatial series of greyscale intensity pixel values at 0 degrees , 30 degrees , 45 degrees , 60 degrees , and 90 degrees rotations. Images were acquired from three qualities of pre-sliced pork ham, typically consumed in Ireland (200 slices per quality). Results indicated that the DFA approach can be used to characterize and quantify the textural appearance of the three ham qualities, for different image orientations, with a global scaling exponent. The spatial series extracted from the ham images display long-rangedependence, indicating an average behaviour around 1/f-noise. Results indicate that alpha has a universal character in quantifying the visual texture of ham surface intensity patterns, with no considerable crossovers that alter the behaviour of the fluctuations. Fractal correlation properties can thus be a useful metric for capturing information embedded in the visual texture of hams.

We explore the statistics of instrumental surface temperature records on 5°× 5°, 2°× 2°, and equal-area grids. In particular, we compute the significance of determinstic trends against two parsimonious null models; auto-regressive processes of order 1, AR(1), and fractional Gaussian noises (fGn's). Both of these two null models contain a memory parameter which quantifies the temporal climate variability, with white noise nested in both classes of models. Estimates of the persistence parameters show significant positive serial correlation for most grid cells, with higher persistence over occeans compared to land areas. This shows that, in a trend detection framework, we need to take into account larger spurious trends than what follows from the frequently used white noise assumption. Tested against the fGn null hypothesis, we find that ~ 68% (~ 47%) of the time series have significant trends at the 5% (1%) significance level. If we assume an AR(1) null hypothesis instead, then the result is that ~ 94% (~ 88%) of the time series have significant trends at the 5% (1%) significance level. For both null models, the locations where we do not find significant trends are mostly the ENSO regions and the North-Atlantic. We try to discriminate between the two null models by means of likelihood-ratios. If we at each grid point choose the null model preferred by the model selection test, we find that ~ 82% (~ 73%) of the time series have significant trends at the 5% (1%). We conclude that there is emerging evidence of significant warming trends also at regional scales, although with a much lower signal-to-noise ratio compared to global mean temperatures. Another finding is that many temperature records are consistent with error models for internal variability that exhibit long-rangedependence, whereas the temperature fluctuations of the tropical oceans are strongly influenced by the ENSO, and therefore seemingly more consistent with random processes with short

The effects of an eastern boundary current in the North Atlantic have been mapped from about 39° north latitude along the Iberian margin to as far north as 43°30 north latitude at the western margin of Galicia Bank. The geostrophic current has produced sediment drifts that are covered with bedforms. The sediment drifts are difficult to detect on Gloria long-range side-scan sonar data but are easily resolved on seismic-reflection records as anomalously thick accumulations of sediment banked against either buried or outcropping basement highs. The bedforms ornamenting the drift surfaces were subdivided into 1,000-m water-depth intervals, and their dimensions were tabulated. There are few bedforms in water depths less han 2,000 m, but from depths between 2,000 and 4,000 m they are numerous and have a mean wavelength of 695 m. Bedforms from depths greater than 4,000 m have a mean wavelength of 999 m. The different wavelengths from different water depths suggest two distinct and separated boundary flows. The wave heights of all bedforms found in water depths greater than 2,000 m are less than 10 m. In order to investigate the continuity of sediment drifting through geological time, the stratigraphic section drilled at DSDP Site 398 was reinterpreted and, using seismic-reflection profiles, was traced throughout the northern Iberian margin. Together, the lithostratigraphic and seismic data indicate that sediment drifting developed along this margin in the Eocene. The lithofacies of the Eocene section is t e oldest to have numerous layers of sand and silt. An unconformity separates the Eocene section from the latest Miocene-Pliocene section. The unconformity is interpreted to be the result of the initial pulses of Mediterranean outflow that followed the Messinian desiccation events. A second period of sediment drifting commenced during the Pliocene once the Mediterranean basin filled and the flow out of the Strait of Gibraltar resumed.

A long-range-corrected time-dependent density functional theory (LC-TDDFT) in combination with polarizable continuum model (PCM) have been applied to study charge transfer (CT) optical absorption and fluorescence emission energies basing on parameterized LC-BLYP xc-potential. The molecule of 4-(9-acridyl)julolidine selected for this study represents typical CT donor-acceptor dye with strongly solvent dependent optical absorption and fluorescence emission spectra. The result of calculations are compared with experimental spectra reported in the literature to derive an optimal value of the model screening parameter ω. The first absorption band appears to be quite well predictable within DFT/TDDFT/PCM with the screening parameter ω to be solvent independent (ω≈0.245 Bohr-1) whereas the fluorescence emission exhibits a strong dependence on the range separation with ω-value varying on a rising solvent polarity from about 0.225 to 0.151 Bohr-1. Dipolar properties of the initial state participating in the electronic transition have crucial impact on the effective screening.

NASA's current plans for the U.S. space program are described. Consideration is given to the debate between manned or unmanned exploration of space, missions to the moon versus missions to Mars, and the exploration of space applications or science. NASA has created the Office of Policy and Planning and the Office of Exploration in order to improve the planning of future space activities. Long-range trends such as second-generation Shuttles, cargo launch vehicles with large capacity systems, an advanced Space Station, the use of robotics, closed cycle life support, health maintenance techniques, and the processing of extraterrestrial materials are considered.

The possible occurrence of ergodic behavior for large times is investigated in the case of stationary random processes with memory. It is shown that for finite times the time average of a state function is generally a random variable and thus two types of cumulants can be introduced: for the time average and for the statistical ensemble, respectively. In the limit of infinite time a transition from the random to the deterministic behavior of the time average may occur, resulting in an ergodic behavior. The conditions of occurrence of this transition are investigated by analyzing the scaling behavior of the cumulants of the time average. A general approach for the computation of these cumulants is developed; explicit computations are presented both for short and long memory in the particular case of separable stationary processes for which the cumulants of a statistical ensemble can be factorized into products of functions depending on binary time differences. In both cases the ergodic behavior emerges for large times provided that the cumulants of a statistical ensemble decrease to zero as the time differences increase to infinity. The analysis leads to the surprising conclusion that the scaling behavior of the cumulants of the time average is relatively insensitive to the type of memory considered: both for short and long memory the cumulants of the time average obey inverse different from zero for large time differences, then the time averaage is random even as the length of the total time interval tends to infinity and the ergodic behavior no longer holds. The theory is applied to the study of longrange correlations of nucleotide sequences in DNA; in this case the length t of a sequence of nucleotides plays the role of the time variable. A proportionality relationship is established between the cumulants of the pyrimidine excess in a sequence of length t and the cumulants of the time (length) average of the probability of occurrence of a pyrimidine. It is shown

A consistent modeling framework with nested global and regional chemical transport models (CTMs) is used to separate and quantitatively assess the relative contributions to projections of future U.S. ozone pollution from the effects of emissions changes, climate change, long-range transport (LRT) of pollutants, and differences in modeling design. After incorporating dynamic lateral boundary conditions (LBCs) from a global CTM, a regional CTM's representation of present-day U.S. ozone pollution is notably improved, especially relative to results from the regional CTM with fixed LBCs or from the global CTM alone. This nested system of global and regional CTMs projects substantial surface ozone trends for the 2050's: 6-10 ppb decreases under the 'clean' A1B scenario and ∼15 ppb increases under the 'dirty' A1Fi scenario. Among the total trends of future ozone, regional emissions changes dominate, contributing negative 25-60% in A1B and positive 30-45% in A1Fi. Comparatively, climate change contributes positive 10-30%, while LRT effects through changing chemical LBCs account for positive 15-20% in both scenarios, suggesting introducing dynamic LBCs could influence projections of the U.S. future ozone pollution with a magnitude comparable to effects of climate change alone. The contribution to future ozone projections due to differences in modeling design, including model formulations, emissions treatments, and other factors between the global and the nested regional CTMs, is regionally dependent, ranging from negative 20% to positive 25%. It is shown that the model discrepancies for present-day simulations between global and regional CTMs can propagate into future U.S. ozone projections systematically but nonlinearly, especially in California and the Southeast. Therefore in addition to representations of emissions change and climate change, accurate treatment of LBCs for the regional CTM is essential for projecting the future U.S. ozone pollution.

The long-range proximity effect in superconductor-ferromagnet (S/F) hybrid nanostructures is observed if singlet Cooper pairs from the superconductor are converted into triplet pairs which can diffuse into the ferromagnet over large distances. It is commonly believed that this happens only in the presence of magnetic inhomogeneities. We show that there are other sources of the long-range triplet component (LRTC) of the condensate and establish general conditions for their occurrence. As a prototypical example, we consider first a system where the exchange field and spin-orbit coupling can be treated as time and space components of an effective SU(2) potential. We derive a SU(2) covariant diffusive equation for the condensate and demonstrate that an effective SU(2) electric field is responsible for the long-range proximity effect. Finally, we extend our analysis to a generic ferromagnet and establish a universal condition for the LRTC. Our results open a new avenue in the search for such correlations in S/F structures and make a hitherto unknown connection between the LRTC and Yang-Mills electrostatics.

In this work we present a study of the excitation energies of adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine and the adenine-thymine (AT) and guanine-cytosine (GC) base pairs using long-range corrected (LC) density functional theory. We compare three recent LC-functionals, BNL, CAM-B3LYP and LC-PBE0 with B3LYP and coupled cluster results from the literature. We find that the best overall performance is for the BNL functional based on LDA. However, in order to achieve this good agreement a smaller attenuation parameter was needed which leads to non-optimum performance for ground state properties. B3LYP, on the other hand, severely underestimates the charge transfer (CT) transitions in the base pairs. Surprisingly we also find that the CAM-B3LYP functional also underestimates the CT excitation energy for the GC base pair, but correctly describes the AT base pair. This illustrates the importance of retaining the full long-range exact exchange even at distances as short as that of the DNA base pairs. The worst overall performance was obtained with the LC-PBE0 functional which overestimates the excitations for the individual bases as well as the base pairs. It is therefore crucial to strike a good balance between the amount of local and long-range exact exchange.

Long-range corrected (range-separated hybrid) functionals represent a relatively new class of functionals for generalized Kohn-Sham theory that have proven to be very successful, for instance, when it comes to predicting ionization potentials and energy gaps for a wide range of molecules and solids. The results obtained from long-range corrected density functional theory approaches can be improved dramatically, if the range-separation parameter (ω) is optimized for each system separately. In this work, we have optimized ω for a series of π-conjugated molecular systems of increasing length by forcing the resulting functionals to obey the ionization potential-theorem, i.e., that their highest occupied eigenvalue be equal to the ΔSCF ionization potential. The optimized ω values are observed to vary substantially from their default values for the functionals. For highly conjugated chains such as oligoacenes and polyenes, we find that the characteristic length scale of the range-separation, i.e., 1/ω, grows almost linearly with the number of repeat units, for saturated alkane chains, however, 1/ω quickly saturates after 5-6 repeat units. For oligothiophenes, we find that 1/ω grows linearly for the shorter oligomers but then saturates at around 10 repeat units. Our results point to a close relation between the optimal range-separation parameter and the degree of conjugation in the system.

MPMV has great potential for development as a vector for gene therapy. In this respect, precisely defining the sequences and structural motifs that are important for dimerization and packaging of its genomic RNA (gRNA) are of utmost importance. A distinguishing feature of the MPMV gRNA packaging signal is two phylogenetically conserved long-range interactions (LRIs) between U5 and gag complementary sequences, LRI-I and LRI-II. To test their biological significance in the MPMV life cycle, we introduced mutations into these structural motifs and tested their effects on MPMV gRNA packaging and propagation. Furthermore, we probed the structure of key mutants using SHAPE (selective 2'hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension). Disrupting base-pairing of the LRIs affected gRNA packaging and propagation, demonstrating their significance to the MPMV life cycle. A double mutant restoring a heterologous LRI-I was fully functional, whereas a similar LRI-II mutant failed to restore gRNA packaging and propagation. These results demonstrate that while LRI-I acts at the structural level, maintaining base-pairing is not sufficient for LRI-II function. In addition, in vitro RNA dimerization assays indicated that the loss of RNA packaging in LRI mutants could not be attributed to the defects in dimerization. Our findings suggest that U5-gag LRIs play an important architectural role in maintaining the structure of the 5' region of the MPMV gRNA, expanding the crucial role of LRIs to the nonlentiviral group of retroviruses.

AD-A271 614 r, FINAL REPORT w to I OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH [I on * LONGRANGE FAST TOOL SERVO I ONR CONTRACT NO. N00014-92-J-4082-PII Covering the...n I I 1 INTRODUCTION The PEC’s MAC 100 Fast Tool Servo (FTS) System has demonstrated the efficacy of fabricating off-axis parabolic segments on axis...by utilizing a fast tool motion to machine non-rotationally symmetric surfaces [1]. The key to this technique was a servo for the tool motion that had

Two-particle correlations in pPb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV are studied as a function of the pseudorapidity separation (Delta eta) of the particle pair at small relative azimuthal angle (abs(Delta phi)< pi/3). The correlations are decomposed into a jet component that dominates the short-range correlations (abs(Delta eta) < 1), and a component that persists at large Delta eta and may originate from collective behavior of the produced system. The events are classified in terms of the multiplicity of the produced particles. Finite azimuthal anisotropies are observed in high-multiplicity events. The second and third Fourier components of the particle-pair azimuthal correlations, V[2] and V[3], are extracted after subtraction of the jet component. The single-particle anisotropy parameters v[2] and v[3] are normalized by their lab frame mid-rapidity value and are studied as a function of eta[cm]. The normalized v[2] distribution is found to be asymmetric about eta[cm] = 0, with smaller values observed at forward pseudorapidity, corresponding to the direction of the proton beam, while no significant pseudorapidity dependence is observed for the normalized v[3] distribution within the statistical uncertainties.

Pedestrian stampede happened more and more often during these years, such as Love Parade disaster in Germany 2010, trampling in Shanghai bund 2014 and crowd stampede in pilgrimages. Love Parade disaster 2010 stands out for well recorded videos, which are HD quality and available for researchers. There were totally seven surveillance cameras capturing the whole festival progress and the video we study is just before the disaster happened. Pedestrian motion was special and a small disturbance would lead the group to an avalanche in this kind of critical situation. Here we focus on the individual movement pattern. The trajectories of each pedestrian involved were extracted by a mean-shift algorithm. We analyzed the space-time patterns of the pedestrians involved in the Love Parade stampede by using the detrended fluctuation analysis and the coefficient of variation. Our results reveal that the pedestrians' movement in crowd-quakes is persistent in space, globally time-clusterized but locally regular or quasi-periodic behavior. Pedestrian movement was treated as stop and go state by point process-based representation. When the threshold increases, this means that the "go" state is longer and pedestrians keep on walking in several consecutive time frames; this is difficult in crowded situations and lead to special time-clustering behavior of the sequence of "go" events. The study reveals pedestrian motion characteristics in critical situations, which will enhance the understanding of pedestrian behaviors and supply early warning features for not only Love Parade Disaster, but also other similar large events.

The spreading of evolutionary novelties across populations is the central element of adaptation. Unless population are well-mixed (like bacteria in a shaken test tube), the spreading dynamics not only depends on fitness differences but also on the dispersal behavior of the species. Spreading at a constant speed is generally predicted when dispersal is sufficiently short-ranged. However, the case of long-range dispersal is unresolved: While it is clear that even rare long-range jumps can lead to a drastic speedup, it has been difficult to analyze the ensuing stochastic growth process. We present a simple self-consistent argument supported by simulations that accurately predicts evolutionary spread for broad distributions of long distance dispersal. In contrast to the exponential laws predicted by deterministic ``mean-field'' models, spread is either according to a super-linear power-law or a stretched exponential law, depending on the tails of the dispersal kernel. Fluctuations and the relation to supercritical long-range percolation are discussed. Due to the simplicity of our model, which lacks any complex interactions between individuals, we expect our results to be applicable to a wide range of spreading processes. Our results may be used, in particular, to estimate the spread of modern human epidemics, which are greatly accelerated by the human aviation. Based on joint work with Daniel S. Fisher, Stanford.

Protein biological function depends on structural flexibility and change. From cellular communication through membrane ion channels to oxygen uptake and delivery by haemoglobin, structural changes are critical. It has been suggested that vibrations that extend through the protein play a crucial role in controlling these structural changes. While nature may utilize such long-range vibrations for optimization of biological processes, bench-top characterization of these extended structural motions for engineered biochemistry has been elusive. Here we show the first optical observation of long-range protein vibrational modes. This is achieved by orientation-sensitive terahertz near-field microscopy measurements of chicken egg white lysozyme single crystals. Underdamped modes are found to exist for frequencies >10 cm(-1). The existence of these persisting motions indicates that damping and intermode coupling are weaker than previously assumed. The methodology developed permits protein engineering based on dynamical network optimization.

Protein biological function depends on structural flexibility and change. From cellular communication through membrane ion channels to oxygen uptake and delivery by haemoglobin, structural changes are critical. It has been suggested that vibrations that extend through the protein play a crucial role in controlling these structural changes. While nature may utilize such long-range vibrations for optimization of biological processes, bench-top characterization of these extended structural motions for engineered biochemistry has been elusive. Here we show the first optical observation of long-range protein vibrational modes. This is achieved by orientation-sensitive terahertz near-field microscopy measurements of chicken egg white lysozyme single crystals. Underdamped modes are found to exist for frequencies >10 cm-1. The existence of these persisting motions indicates that damping and intermode coupling are weaker than previously assumed. The methodology developed permits protein engineering based on dynamical network optimization.

We demonstrate the utility of laser illuminated imaging for clandestine night time surveillance from a simulated airborne platform at standoff ranges in excess 20 km. In order to reduce the necessary laser per pulse energy required for illumination at such longranges, and to mitigate atmospheric turbulence effects on image resolution, we have investigated a unique multi-frame post-processing technique. It is shown that in the presence of atmospheric turbulence and coherent speckle effects, this approach can produce superior results to conventional scene flood illumination.

Bird songs range in form from the simple notes of a Chipping Sparrow to the rich performance of the nightingale. Non-adjacent correlations can be found in the syntax of some birdsongs, indicating that the choice of what to sing next is determined not only by the current syllable, but also by previous syllables sung. Here we examine the song of the domesticated canary, a complex singer whose song consists of syllables, grouped into phrases that are arranged in flexible sequences. Phrases are defined by a fundamental time-scale that is independent of the underlying syllable duration. We show that the ordering of phrases is governed by long-range rules: the choice of what phrase to sing next in a given context depends on the history of the song, and for some syllables, highly specific rules produce correlations in song over timescales of up to ten seconds. The neural basis of these long-range correlations may provide insight into how complex behaviors are assembled from more elementary, stereotyped modules. PMID:23658509

Bird songs range in form from the simple notes of a Chipping Sparrow to the rich performance of the nightingale. Non-adjacent correlations can be found in the syntax of some birdsongs, indicating that the choice of what to sing next is determined not only by the current syllable, but also by previous syllables sung. Here we examine the song of the domesticated canary, a complex singer whose song consists of syllables, grouped into phrases that are arranged in flexible sequences. Phrases are defined by a fundamental time-scale that is independent of the underlying syllable duration. We show that the ordering of phrases is governed by long-range rules: the choice of what phrase to sing next in a given context depends on the history of the song, and for some syllables, highly specific rules produce correlations in song over timescales of up to ten seconds. The neural basis of these long-range correlations may provide insight into how complex behaviors are assembled from more elementary, stereotyped modules.

The spreading of evolutionary novelties across populations is the central element of adaptation. Unless populations are well mixed (like bacteria in a shaken test tube), the spreading dynamics depend not only on fitness differences but also on the dispersal behavior of the species. Spreading at a constant speed is generally predicted when dispersal is sufficiently short ranged, specifically when the dispersal kernel falls off exponentially or faster. However, the case of long-range dispersal is unresolved: Although it is clear that even rare long-range jumps can lead to a drastic speedup—as air-traffic–mediated epidemics show—it has been difficult to quantify the ensuing stochastic dynamical process. However, such knowledge is indispensable for a predictive understanding of many spreading processes in natural populations. We present a simple iterative scaling approximation supported by simulations and rigorous bounds that accurately predicts evolutionary spread, which is determined by a trade-off between frequency and potential effectiveness of long-distance jumps. In contrast to the exponential laws predicted by deterministic “mean-field” approximations, we show that the asymptotic spatial growth is according to either a power law or a stretched exponential, depending on the tails of the dispersal kernel. More importantly, we provide a full time-dependent description of the convergence to the asymptotic behavior, which can be anomalously slow and is relevant even for long times. Our results also apply to spreading dynamics on networks with a spectrum of long-range links under certain conditions on the probabilities of long-distance travel: These are relevant for the spread of epidemics. PMID:25368183

The spreading of evolutionary novelties across populations is the central element of adaptation. Unless populations are well mixed (like bacteria in a shaken test tube), the spreading dynamics depend not only on fitness differences but also on the dispersal behavior of the species. Spreading at a constant speed is generally predicted when dispersal is sufficiently short ranged, specifically when the dispersal kernel falls off exponentially or faster. However, the case of long-range dispersal is unresolved: Although it is clear that even rare long-range jumps can lead to a drastic speedup--as air-traffic-mediated epidemics show--it has been difficult to quantify the ensuing stochastic dynamical process. However, such knowledge is indispensable for a predictive understanding of many spreading processes in natural populations. We present a simple iterative scaling approximation supported by simulations and rigorous bounds that accurately predicts evolutionary spread, which is determined by a trade-off between frequency and potential effectiveness of long-distance jumps. In contrast to the exponential laws predicted by deterministic "mean-field" approximations, we show that the asymptotic spatial growth is according to either a power law or a stretched exponential, depending on the tails of the dispersal kernel. More importantly, we provide a full time-dependent description of the convergence to the asymptotic behavior, which can be anomalously slow and is relevant even for long times. Our results also apply to spreading dynamics on networks with a spectrum of long-range links under certain conditions on the probabilities of long-distance travel: These are relevant for the spread of epidemics.

Long-range power-law correlated percolation is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. We obtain several static and dynamic critical exponents as functions of the Hurst exponent H, which characterizes the degree of spatial correlation among the occupation of sites. In particular, we study the fractal dimension of the largest cluster and the scaling behavior of the second moment of the cluster size distribution, as well as the complete and accessible perimeters of the largest cluster. Concerning the inner structure and transport properties of the largest cluster, we analyze its shortest path, backbone, red sites, and conductivity. Finally, bridge site growth is also considered. We propose expressions for the functional dependence of the critical exponents on H.

1 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Advanced Climate Analysis and LongRange Forecasting...project is to improve the longrange and climate support provided by the U.S. Naval Oceanography Enterprise (NOe) for planning, conducting, and...months, several seasons, several years). The primary transition focus is on improving the longrange and climate support capabilities of the Fleet

The LongRange Video Observation Post (LRVOP) Project is a cooperative effort between the US and a Middle Eastern country to develop an improved version of their current video observation post. This project is part of a larger effort to cooperatively develop anti-terrorist technology. This particular equipment is required to facilitate the recording and identification of humans at a range of 1000 meters in day-light and 500 meters at night. The project objective was to take advantage of recent advances in camera technology, recorders, and image processing to provide an significant increase in performance with only a minimum increase in size, weight, and cost. The goal of the project was to convert the users general needs and desires into specific requirements that could be bid on by several companies. This paper covers the specific performance requirements, generally describe the components that might be used, and concentrate on describing the more difficult issues and technical challenges.

Longrange effects may be of three varieties: those which are observable in the immediate period subsequent to exposure but are longrange because of their continuing repetitive accumulation with each exposure; those which represent the cumulative or delayed impact on individuals of exposure to television; or those which represent the immediate…

At Pennsylvania College of Technology (PCT), longrange planning is used to define institutional philosophy and mission and determine strategies to make the best use of available resources and implement actions to fulfill institutional mission. This document presents PCT's long-range plan for 1997-2000 in three parts. The first part describes long…

Absorption spectra of Ag{sub 20} and Ag{sub 55}{sup q} (q = +1, −3) nanoclusters are investigated in the framework of the time-dependent density functional theory in order to analyse the role of the d electrons in plasmon-like band of silver clusters. The description of the plasmon-like band from calculations using density functionals containing an amount of Hartree-Fock exchange at longrange, namely, hybrid and range-separated hybrid (RSH) density functionals, is in good agreement with the classical interpretation of the plasmon-like structure as a collective excitation of valence s-electrons. In contrast, using local or semi-local exchange functionals (generalized gradient approximations (GGAs) or meta-GGAs) leads to a strong overestimation of the role of d electrons in the plasmon-like band. The semi-local asymptotically corrected model potentials also describe the plasmon as mainly associated to d electrons, though calculated spectra are in fairly good agreement with those calculated using the RSH scheme. Our analysis shows that a portion of non-local exchange modifies the description of the plasmon-like band.

The design considerations for a long-range Purkinje effects based video tracking system using current technology is presented. Past work, current experiments, and future directions are thoroughly discussed, with an emphasis on digital signal processing techniques and obstacles. It has been determined that while a robust, efficient, long-range, and non-invasive eye tracking system will be difficult to develop, such as a project is indeed feasible.

Ionic liquids are pure salts that are liquid under ambient conditions. As liquids composed solely of ions, the scientific consensus has been that ionic liquids have exceedingly high ionic strengths and thus very short Debye screening lengths. However, several recent experiments from laboratories around the world have reported data for the approach of two surfaces separated by ionic liquids which revealed remarkable longrange forces that appear to be electrostatic in origin. Evidence has accumulated demonstrating longrange surface forces for several different combinations of ionic liquids and electrically charged surfaces, as well as for concentrated mixtures of inorganic salts in solvent. The original interpretation of these forces, that ionic liquids could be envisioned as "dilute electrolytes," was controversial, and the origin of longrange forces in ionic liquids remains the subject of discussion. Here we seek to collate and examine the evidence for longrange surface forces in ionic liquids, identify key outstanding questions, and explore possible mechanisms underlying the origin of these longrange forces. Longrange surface forces in ionic liquids and other highly concentrated electrolytes hold diverse implications from designing ionic liquids for energy storage applications to rationalizing electrostatic correlations in biological self-assembly.

Common approximate exchange-correlation functionals suffer from self-interaction error, and as a result, their corresponding potentials have incorrect asymptotic behavior. The exact asymptote can be imposed by introducing range separation into the exchange component and replacing the long-range portion of the approximate exchange by the Hartree-Fock counterpart. The authors show that this long-range correction works particularly well in combination with the short-range variant of the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) exchange functional. This long-range-corrected hybrid, here denoted LC-{omega}PBE, is remarkably accurate for a broad range of molecular properties, such as thermochemistry, barrier heights of chemical reactions, bond lengths, and most notably, description of processes involving long-range charge transfer.

Continuous classification of dismount types (including gender, age, ethnicity) and their activities (such as walking, running) evolving over space and time is challenging. Limited sensor resolution (often exacerbated as a function of platform standoff distance) and clutter from shadows in dense target environments, unfavorable environmental conditions, and the normal properties of real data all contribute to the challenge. The unique and innovative aspect of our approach is a synthesis of multimodal signal processing with incremental non-parametric, hierarchical Bayesian machine learning methods to create a new kind of target classification architecture. This architecture is designed from the ground up to optimally exploit correlations among the multiple sensing modalities (multimodal data fusion) and rapidly and continuously learns (online self-tuning) patterns of distinct classes of dismounts given little a priori information. This increases classification performance in the presence of challenges posed by anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) sensing. To fuse multimodal features, Long-range Dismount Activity Classification (LODAC) develops a novel statistical information theoretic approach for multimodal data fusion that jointly models multimodal data (i.e., a probabilistic model for cross-modal signal generation) and discovers the critical cross-modal correlations by identifying components (features) with maximal mutual information (MI) which is efficiently estimated using non-parametric entropy models. LODAC develops a generic probabilistic pattern learning and classification framework based on a new class of hierarchical Bayesian learning algorithms for efficiently discovering recurring patterns (classes of dismounts) in multiple simultaneous time series (sensor modalities) at multiple levels of feature granularity.

We study microcanonical lattice gas models with longrange interactions, including power law interactions. We rigorously obtain a variational principle for the entropy. In a one dimensional example, we find a first order phase transition by proving the entropy is non-differentiable along a certain curve.

Faced with an unsteady economy and fluctuating learning needs, planning a learning strategy designed to last longer than the next six months can be a tall order. But a long-range learning plan can provide a road map for success. In this article, four companies (KPMG LLP, CarMax, DPR Construction, and EMC Corp.) describe their learning plans, and…

The cited research very clearly indicates that the top management of any profit-seeking organization is delinquent or grossly negligent if it does not engage in fully integrated long-range planning--at least this would seem to be true in the ordinary case. (Author)

The author argues that forecasts of quick depletion of resources in the environment as a result of overpopulation and increased usage may not be free from error. Ignorance still exists in understanding the recovery mechanisms of nature. Long-range forecasts are likely to be wrong in such situations. (PS)

A group of scientists at Los Alamos have held a series of discussions of the issues in and prospects for improvements in Long-range Weather Predictions Enabled by Proving of the Atmosphere at High Space-Time Resolution. The group contained the requisite skills for a full evaluation, although this report presents only an informal discussion of the main technical issues. The group discussed all aspects of the proposal, which are grouped below into the headings: (1) predictability; (2) sensors and satellites, (3) DIAL and atmospheric sensing; (4) localized transponders; and (5) summary and integration. Briefly, the group agreed that the relative paucity of observations of the state of the atmosphere severely inhibits the accuracy of weather forecasts, and any program that leads to a more dense and uniform observational network is welcome. As shown in Long-range Weather more dense and uniform observational network is welcome. As shown in Long-range Weather Predictions, the pay-back of accurate long-range forecasts should more than justify the expenditure associated with improved observations and forecast models required. The essential step is to show that the needed technologies are available for field test and space qualification.

Long-range planning assumptions and goals are presented for Muskegon Community College (MCC) as they were submitted by a committee of area citizens. After introductory material summarizing the committee's mandate and activities, the report discusses the fiscal, demographic, curricular, and administrative changes likely to affect MCC during the…

In strong field atomic physics community, long-range Coulomb interaction has for a long time been overlooked and its significant role in intense laser-driven photoelectron dynamics eluded experimental observations. Here we report an experimental investigation of the effect of long-range Coulomb potential on the dynamics of near-zero-momentum photoelectrons produced in photo-ionization process of noble gas atoms in intense midinfrared laser pulses. By exploring the dependence of photoelectron distributions near zero momentum on laser intensity and wavelength, we unambiguously demonstrate that the long-range tail of the Coulomb potential (i.e., up to several hundreds atomic units) plays an important role in determining the photoelectron dynamics after the pulse ends. PMID:27256904

Shore zones of reservoirs are in most cases very active, getting transformed as a result of coastal processes and mass movements initiated on the slopes surrounding the reservoir. From the point of view of the users of water reservoirs shore recession strongly undesirable as it causes destruction to infrastructure and buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the reservoir. For this reason, reservoir shores require continuous geodetic monitoring. Fast and accurate geodetic measurements covering shore sections several kilometers long, often in poorly accessible areas, are available using longrange terrestrial laser scanning (TLS). The possibilities of using longrange terrestrial laser scanning are shown on the example of the reservoir Jeziorsko on the Warta River (Central Poland). This reservoir, created in the years 1986-1992, is a typical retention reservoir, the annual fluctuations of which reach 5 m. Depending on the water level its surface area ranges from 42.3 to 19.6 km2. The width of the reservoir is 2.5 km. The total shore length of the reservoir, developed in Quaternary till and sand-till sediments, is 44.3 km, including 30.1 km of the unreinforced shore. Out of the unreinforced shore 27% is subject to coastal erosion. The cliff heights vary from a few cm to 12.5 meters, and the current rate of the cliff recession ranges from 0 to 1.12 m/y. The study used a terrestrial longrange laser scanner Riegl VZ-4000 of a range of up to 4000 m. It enabled conducting the measurements of the cliff recession from the opposite shore of the reservoir, with an angular resolution of 0.002°, which gives about 50 measurement points per 1 m2. The measurements were carried out in the years 2014-2015, twice a year, in early spring before high water level, and in late autumn at a dropping water level. This allowed the separation of the impact of coastal processes and frost weathering on the cliff recession and their quantitative determination. The size and nature of

The impact of predicted technological developments on educational broadcasting depends on the longrange planning done to exploit them. It is expected that in the future computers will be used extensively by broadcasting agencies to collect, analyze, and provide, on call, a wide range of data about audience groupings. Determination of program…

The objective of this paper is to provide an overview assessment of three separate programs at Langley Research Center that have incorporated advanced technology into the design of long-range passenger and cargo aircraft. The first technology centers around the use of an span-loaded cargo aircraft with the payload distributed along the wing. This concept has the potential for reduced structural weights. The second technology is the application of laminar flow control (LFC) to the aircraft to reduce the aerodynamic drag. The use of LFC can reduce the fuel requirements during long-range cruise. The last program evaluates the production of alternate aircraft fuels from coal and the use of liquid hydrogen as an aircraft fuel. Coal-derived hydrogen as an aircraft fuel offers both the prospect for reduced dependence on petroleum fuels and improved performance for long-range aircraft.

Key ingredients of long-range planning described in the literature during the last 10 years, the role of an office of institutional research, and a coordinated long-range planning process as it might occur in a public four-year college or university are described. A successful long-range planning process is characterized by centralized…

Here, we studied the evolution of the Wightman correlator in a thermalizing state modeled by AdS3-Vaidya background. A prescription was given for calculating the Wightman correlator in coordinate space without using any approximation. For equal-time correlator , we obtained an enhancement factor v2 due to longrange correlation present in the initial state. This was missed by previous studies based on geodesic approximation. Moreover, we found that the longrange correlation in initial state does not lead to significant modification to thermalization time as compared to known results with generic initial state. We also studied the spatially integrated Wightman correlatormore » and showed evidence on the distinction between long distance and small momentum physics for an out-of-equilibrium state. We also calculated the radiation spectrum of particles weakly coupled to O and found that lower frequency mode approaches thermal spectrum faster than high frequency mode.« less

The proposed Gemini, a long-range cargo transport, is designed as a high capacity, dedicated cargo transporter of 8'x8'x20' inter-modal containers, and long-range design. These requirements will result in a design that is larger than any existing aircraft. Due to the size, a conventional configuration would result in an aircraft unable to operate economically at existing airports. It is necessary to design for a minimum possible empty weight, wingspan, and landing gear track. After considering both a single fuselage biplane and a double fuselage biplane configuration, the design team choose the double fuselage biplane configuration. Both of these configuration choices result in a reduced wing root bending moment and subsequently in substantial savings in the wing weight. An overall decrease in the weight of the airplane, its systems, and fuel will be a direct result of the wing weight savings.

DNA sequences have been analysed using models, such as an n-step Markov chain, that incorporate the possibility of short-range nucleotide correlations. We propose here a method for studying the stochastic properties of nucleotide sequences by constructing a 1:1 map of the nucleotide sequence onto a walk, which we term a 'DNA walk'. We then use the mapping to provide a quantitative measure of the correlation between nucleotides over long distances along the DNA chain. Thus we uncover in the nucleotide sequence a remarkably long-range power law correlation that implies a new scale-invariant property of DNA. We find such long-range correlations in intron-containing genes and in nontranscribed regulatory DNA sequences, but not in complementary DNA sequences or intron-less genes.

DNA SEQUENCES have been analysed using models, such as an it-step Markov chain, that incorporate the possibility of short-range nucleotide correlations1. We propose here a method for studying the stochastic properties of nucleotide sequences by constructing a 1:1 map of the nucleotide sequence onto a walk, which we term a 'DNA walk'. We then use the mapping to provide a quantitative measure of the correlation between nucleotides over long distances along the DNA chain. Thus we uncover in the nucleotide sequence a remarkably long-range power law correlation that implies a new scale-invariant property of DNA. We find such long-range correlations in intron-containing genes and in nontranscribed regulatory DNA sequences, but not in complementary DNA sequences or intron-less genes.

Acoustic communication at longrange in the ocean is challenging due to the substantial propagation loss, multipath delay spread , and channel...20 Hz in the upward refracting Arctic acoustic channel. However, the seafloor topography in the region of the Chukchi Plateau is very uneven over...which the depth was 600 m and thus the seafloor affected every mode of the ACOUS signal except for mode 1 which was confined to the upper 200 m. In April

Surface polaritons guided by symmetric double metal film structures are analyzed, with particular attention given to the attenuation of the two long-range modes that occur. It is found that long-range surface plasmon polariton modes do exist for double electrode structures over a limited range of material parameters. Guided by thin metal electrodes, surface plasmon polaritons can achieve millimeter plus propagation distances in the near infrared. It is pointed out that if the slab is electrooptic, then very low voltages will be needed to manipulate the waves. The fact that long-range modes exist simultaneously with junction tunnel plasmons may be of use in providing directional radiation from light-emitting junctions or the inverse process of light to electrical energy conversion.

A constraint-based scheduling system called SPIKE is used to create long-term schedules for the Hubble Space Telescope. A meta-level scheduler called the Criterion Autoscheduler for Longrange planning (CASL) was created to guide SPIKE's schedule generation according to the agenda of the planning scientists. It is proposed that sufficient flexibility exists in a schedule to allow high level planning heuristics to be applied without adversely affected crucial constraints such as spacecraft efficiency. This hypothesis is supported by test data which is described.

A fan-less longrange alpha detector is disclosed which operates by using an electrical field between a signal plane and the surface or substance to be monitored for air ions created by collisions with alpha radiation. Without a fan, the detector can operate without the possibility of spreading dust and potential contamination into the atmosphere. A guard plane between the signal plane and the electrically conductive enclosure and maintained at the same voltage as the signal plane, reduces leakage currents. The detector can easily monitor soil, or other solid or liquid surfaces. 2 figures.

This document is part of the Final Report performed under contract NASW-3864, titled "NASA's Long-Range Technology Goals". The objectives of the effort were: To identify technologies whose development falls within NASA's capability and purview, and which have high potential for leapfrog advances in the national industrial posture in the 2005-2010 era. To define which of these technologies can also enable quantum jumps in the national space program. To assess mechanisms of interaction between NASA and industry constituencies for realizing the leapfrog technologies. This Volume details the findings pertaining to the advanced space-enabling technologies.

Here, we studied the evolution of the Wightman correlator in a thermalizing state modeled by AdS3-Vaidya background. A prescription was given for calculating the Wightman correlator in coordinate space without using any approximation. For equal-time correlator , we obtained an enhancement factor v2 due to longrange correlation present in the initial state. This was missed by previous studies based on geodesic approximation. Moreover, we found that the longrange correlation in initial state does not lead to significant modification to thermalization time as compared to known results with generic initial state. We also studied the spatially integrated Wightman correlator and showed evidence on the distinction between long distance and small momentum physics for an out-of-equilibrium state. We also calculated the radiation spectrum of particles weakly coupled to O and found that lower frequency mode approaches thermal spectrum faster than high frequency mode.

27 interface for 21st century travelers. In a cashless , checkless society , Asimov envisages that travelers will have plastic devices (similar to...are: Antarctica, America’s aging population, divided societies , American-English, ethnotronics, and long-range planning. An introductory page presents...States can be reasonably projected for the next 50 years because projections depend on death rates and not on birth rates.󈧐 Increasingly, US society will

Malleable longrange ordered alloys with high critical ordering temperatures exist in the V(Co,Fe)/sub 3/ and V(Co,Fe,Ni)/sub 3/ system. The composition comprising by weight 22 to 23% V, 35 to 50% Fe, 0 to 22% Co and 19 to 40% Ni with an electron density no greater than 8.00. Excellent high temperature properties occur in alloys having compositions comprising by weight 22 to 23% V, 35 to 45% Fe, 0 to 10% Co, 25 to 35% Ni; 22 to 23% V, 28 to 33% Ni and the remainder Fe; and 22 to 23% V, 19 to 22% Co and the remainder Fe. The alloys are fabricable by casting, deforming and annealing for sufficient time to provide ordered structure.

We report upon a recently developed longrange inductive power transfer system (IPT) designed to power remote sensors with mW level power consumption at distances up to 7 m. In this paper an inductive link is established between a large planar (1 × 1 m) transmit coil (Tx) and a small planer (170 × 170 mm) receiver coil (Rx), demonstrating the viability of highly asymmetrical coil configurations that real-world applications such as sensor networks impose. High Q factor Tx and Rx coils required for viable power transfer efficiencies over such distances are measured using a resonant method. The applicability of the Class-E amplifier in very low magnetic coupling scenarios and at the high frequencies of operation required for high Q operation is demonstrated by its usage as the Tx coil driver.

Surface plasmon modes, excited at the two sides of a thin metal layer surrounded by two (nearly) identical dielectric media interact via the overlap of their electromagnetic fields. This overlap results in two new-coupled modes, a short and a long-range surface plasmon (LRSP). We demonstrate that combining the LRSP optics with fluorescence spectroscopy can result in a huge enhancement of the fluorescence signal due to the enhanced optical field of the LRSP at the metal dielectric interface, and to its increased evanescent depth into the analyte. This was demonstrated for the detection of the fluorescence intensity of chromophore labeled protein bound to the surface sensor. Beside that, some fundamentals were studied leading to some interesting difference between SPFS and LRSPFS.

We report an experimental implementation of long-range polarimetric imaging through fog over kilometric distance in real field atmospheric conditions. An incoherent polarized light source settled on a telecommunication tower is imaged at a distance of 1.3 km with a snapshot polarimetric camera including a birefringent Wollaston prism, allowing simultaneous acquisition of two images along orthogonal polarization directions. From a large number of acquisitions datasets and under various environmental conditions (clear sky/fog/haze, day/night), we compare the efficiency of using polarized light for source contrast increase with different signal representations (intensity, polarimetric difference, polarimetric contrast, etc.). With the limited-dynamics detector used, a maximum fourfold increase in contrast was demonstrated under bright background illumination using polarimetric difference image.

Seasonal changes in the vertical structure of free tropospheric aerosols over east Asia, on the basis of aircraft-borne and lidar measurements, and on the pathway of the long-range transport of Asian dust particles inferred from isentropic trajectory analysis are discussed. Aircraft-borne measurements held in situ in the free troposphere over central Japan in 2000-2001 revealed a small in scale yet steady transport of dust in the lower-middle free troposphere (2-6 km altitude) during spring including days with no evident dust outbreak. Such dust, found as background, was observed even in summer in the regions higher than 4 km under the influence of remaining westerly winds but not in the lower regions. From a series of lidar observations over Nagoya (35°N, 137°E), Japan, noticeable changes in aerosol characteristics were obtained in the free troposphere from spring to summer. Taklimakan desert is suggested as possible important source of the background dust.

Long-range electron transfer (ET) between well separated donor (D) and acceptor (A) sites through quantum mechanical tunneling is essential to many biological processes like respiration, photosynthesis and possibly DNA repair and damage. We are investigating the distance dependence of the electronic transition matrix element H_DA and hence of the electron transfer rate in a model for DNA. Fluorescence quenching in DNA at D-A distances of 40 Åand more suggests ET with an unusually high decay length β-1 of order 10 Å (S.O.Kelley and J.K.Barton, in:Metal Ions in Biological Systems), A.Sigel and H.Sigel, Eds., Marcel Dekker, New York, Vol.36, 1999. Assuming strong electron interactions on the D complex and suitable energetics, this could be explained by formation of a many electron Kondo boundstate. We obtain H_DA from the splitting between the two lowest adiabatic electronic eigenenergies, which constitute the potential energy surfaces (PES) of the nuclear motion in lowest order Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The PES are constructed by coupling D and A to local breathing modes and by making a semi-analytical variational ansatz for the adiabatic eigenstates. The results from the PES are compared with results from the Mulliken-Hush algorithm.

We formulate a mean-field-like theory of long-range correlated L-alphabets sequences, which are actually systems with (L-1) independent parameters. Depending on the values of these parameters, the variance on the average number of any given symbol in the sequence shows a linear or a superlinear dependence on the total length of the sequence. We present exact solution to the four-alphabets and three-alphabets sequences. We also demonstrate that a mapping of the given sequence into a smaller alphabets sequence (namely, a coarse-graining process) does not necessarily imply that long-range correlations found in the latter would correspond to those of the former.

Electrolyte solutions with high concentrations of ions are prevalent in biological systems and energy storage technologies. Nevertheless, the high interaction free energy and long-range nature of electrostatic interactions makes the development of a general conceptual picture of concentrated electrolytes a significant challenge. In this work, we study ionic liquids, single-component liquids composed solely of ions, in an attempt to provide a novel perspective on electrostatic screening in very high concentration (nonideal) electrolytes. We use temperature-dependent surface force measurements to demonstrate that the long-range, exponentially decaying diffuse double-layer forces observed across ionic liquids exhibit a pronounced temperature dependence: Increasing the temperature decreases the measured exponential (Debye) decay length, implying an increase in the thermally driven effective free-ion concentration in the bulk ionic liquids. We use our quantitative results to propose a general model of long-range electrostatic screening in ionic liquids, where thermally activated charge fluctuations, either free ions or correlated domains (quasiparticles), take on the role of ions in traditional dilute electrolyte solutions. This picture represents a crucial step toward resolving several inconsistencies surrounding electrostatic screening and charge transport in ionic liquids that have impeded progress within the interdisciplinary ionic liquids community. More broadly, our work provides a previously unidentified way of envisioning highly concentrated electrolytes, with implications for diverse areas of inquiry, ranging from designing electrochemical devices to rationalizing electrostatic interactions in biological systems.

Electrolyte solutions with high concentrations of ions are prevalent in biological systems and energy storage technologies. Nevertheless, the high interaction free energy and long-range nature of electrostatic interactions makes the development of a general conceptual picture of concentrated electrolytes a significant challenge. In this work, we study ionic liquids, single-component liquids composed solely of ions, in an attempt to provide a novel perspective on electrostatic screening in very high concentration (nonideal) electrolytes. We use temperature-dependent surface force measurements to demonstrate that the long-range, exponentially decaying diffuse double-layer forces observed across ionic liquids exhibit a pronounced temperature dependence: Increasing the temperature decreases the measured exponential (Debye) decay length, implying an increase in the thermally driven effective free-ion concentration in the bulk ionic liquids. We use our quantitative results to propose a general model of long-range electrostatic screening in ionic liquids, where thermally activated charge fluctuations, either free ions or correlated domains (quasiparticles), take on the role of ions in traditional dilute electrolyte solutions. This picture represents a crucial step toward resolving several inconsistencies surrounding electrostatic screening and charge transport in ionic liquids that have impeded progress within the interdisciplinary ionic liquids community. More broadly, our work provides a previously unidentified way of envisioning highly concentrated electrolytes, with implications for diverse areas of inquiry, ranging from designing electrochemical devices to rationalizing electrostatic interactions in biological systems. PMID:26040001

We investigate the time evolution of the scores of the second most popular sport in the world: the game of cricket. By analyzing, event by event, the scores of more than 2000 matches, we point out that the score dynamics is an anomalous diffusive process. Our analysis reveals that the variance of the process is described by a power-law dependence with a superdiffusive exponent, that the scores are statistically self-similar following a universal Gaussian distribution, and that there are long-range correlations in the score evolution. We employ a generalized Langevin equation with a power-law correlated noise that describes all the empirical findings very well. These observations suggest that competition among agents may be a mechanism leading to anomalous diffusion and long-range correlation.

The longrange Position and Orientation Tracking System is an active triangulation-based system that is being developed to track a target to a resolution of 6.35 mm (0.25 in.) and 0.009{degrees}(32.4 arcseconds) over a range of 13.72 m (45 ft.). The system update rate is currently set at 20 Hz but can be increased to 100 Hz or more. The tracking is accomplished by sweeping two pairs of orthogonal line lasers over infrared (IR) sensors spaced with known geometry with respect to one another on the target (the target being a rigid body attached to either a remote vehicle or a remote manipulator arm). The synchronization and data acquisition electronics correlates the time that an IR sensor has been hit by one of the four lasers and the angle of the respective mirror at the time of the hit. This information is combined with the known geometry of the IR sensors on the target to determine position and orientation of the target. This method has the advantage of allowing the target to be momentarily lost due to occlusions and then reacquired without having to return the target to a known reference point. The system also contains a camera with operator controlled lighting in each pod that allows the target to be continuously viewed from either pod, assuming their are no occlusions.

A technique is presented that may be used for precision real-time continuous range measuring at longranges. The technique uses a carrier that is phase modulated by a pseudo-random binary sequence. The characteristics of the sequence that make it acquirable are discussed. The general form of a receiver capable of tracking the carrier is given and is shown to be a kind of phase-locked loop. A two-loop system capable of tracking a pseudo-random sequence and its clock is given. The combination of the receiver and the sequence tracking system form a ranging receiver. The power division necessary between the carrier and the sidebands is shown to be determined by the noise bandwidths of the two tracking systems. The bandwidths necessary for tracking space probes and Earth satellites are given and some experiments in radar-tracking Earth satellites are described. Based on these experiments, estimates are made of the useful range of such a system in tracking space probes.

The authors surveyed retired persons (predominately women) with regard to their immediate, intermediate, and long-range activities following retirement. As predicted, leisure travel emerged as a frequent long-range goal for persons retired more than 5 years. The travel activity preferences of long-retired older women present challenges and opportunities to both researchers and marketers. Length of trips and frequency of trips have been predicted from regression models, with trip length in particular being well predicted by the problem of daily life hassles. A theoretical model of continued post-retirement travel is presented as a variant of Solomon's opponent process theory of affect (R. L. Solomon, 1980). The authors suggest that to the degree that places traveled to are varied and different, older people may remain stimulated and continue to enjoy retirement.

In April 2014, the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee was charged to conduct a new study of the opportunities and priorities for United States nuclear physics research and to recommend a longrange plan for the coordinated advancement of the Nation's nuclear science program over the next decade. The entire community actively contributed to developing this plan. Ideas and goals, new and old, were examined and community priorities were established. The LongRange Plan Working Group gathered at Kitty Hawk, NC to converge on the recommendations. In this talk I will discuss the vision for the future that has emerged from this process. The new plan, ``Reaching for the Horizon,'' offers the promise of great leaps forward in our understanding of nuclear science and new opportunities for nuclear science to serve society. This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

A method for estimating the cross-correlation Cxy(τ) of long-range correlated series x(t) and y(t), at varying lags τ and scales n, is proposed. For fractional Brownian motions with Hurst exponents H1 and H2, the asymptotic expression for Cxy(τ) depends only on the lag τ (wide-sense stationarity) and scales as a power of n with exponent H1+H2 for \\tau \\rightarrow 0 . The method is illustrated on: (i) financial series, to show the leverage effect; (ii) genomic sequences, to estimate the correlations between structural parameters along the chromosomes.

The effect of heating and cooling on the long-range order transformation in stoichiometric CuAu is investigated by several complementary measuring methods. Measurements of heat flow, resistometry and acoustic emission are done dynamically by linear heating/cooling. It is shown that measuring dynamically yields the expected effect of undercooling, which decreases with decreasing cooling rate. The dependence of undercooling on cooling rate is compared with the concept of continuous cooling for glass forming. A small influence of heating rate on disordering temperature is reported (retro-effect).

This Long-Range Plan presents the Decontamination and Dismantlement (D&D) Program planning status for facilities at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The plan provides a general description of the D&D Program objectives, management criteria, and policy; discusses current activities; and documents the INEL D&D Program cost and schedule estimate projections for the next 15 years. Appendices are included that provide INEL D&D project historical information, a comprehensive descriptive summary of each current D&D surplus facility, and a summary database of all INEL contaminated facilities awaiting or undergoing the facility transition process.

Aerosol optical properties over a southern sub-tropical site Skukuza, South Africa were studied to determine the variability of the aerosol characteristics using CIMEL Sunphotometer data as part of the AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) from December 2005 to November 2006. Aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström exponent (α), and columnar water vapor (CWV) data were collected, analyzed, and compiled. Participating in this network provided a unique opportunity for understanding the sources of aerosols affecting the atmosphere of South Africa (SA) and the regional radiation budget. The meteorological patterns significantly (p<0.05) influenced the amount and size distribution of the aerosols. Results showed that seasonal variation of AOD at 500 nm (AOD500) over the observation site were characterized by low values (0.10-0.13) in autumn, moderate values (0.14-0.16) in summer and winter seasons, and high to very high values (0.18-0.40) during the spring, with an overall mean value of 0.18±0.12. Ångström exponent α(440-870), varied from 0.5 to 2.89, with significant (p<0.0001) seasonal variability. CWV showed a strong annual cycle with maximum values in the summer and autumn seasons. The relationship between AOD, Ångström exponent (α), and CWV showed a strong dependence (p<0.0001) of α on AOD and CWV, while there was no significant correlation between AOD and CWV. Investigation of the adequacy of the simple use of the spectral AOD and Ångström exponent data was used in deriving the curvature (a2) showed to obtain information for determining the aerosol-particle size. The negative a2 values are characterized by aerosol-size dominated by fine-mode (0.1-1 μm), while the positive curvatures indicate abundance of coarse particles (>1 μm). Trajectory cluster analyses revealed that the air masses during the autumn and winter seasons have longer advection pathways, passing over the ocean and continent. This is reflected in the aerosol properties that are derived from

Results of molecular quantum electrodynamics calculations of discriminatory interactions between two chiral molecules undergoing resonance energy transfer, van der Waals dispersion, and optical binding are presented. A characteristic feature of the theory is that the radiation field is quantized with signals consequently propagating between centres at the speed of light. In order to correctly describe optically active chromophores, it is necessary to include magnetic as well as electric dipole coupling terms in the time-dependent perturbation theory computations. Recent work investigating the effect of an absorptive and dispersive chiral medium on the rate of migration of energy will also be discussed.

We show that, in the continuum limit, the dynamics of Hamiltonian systems defined on a lattice with long-range couplings is well described by the Vlasov equation. This equation can be linearized around the homogeneous state, and a dispersion relation, which depends explicitly on the Fourier modes of the lattice, can be derived. This allows one to compute the stability thresholds of the homogeneous state, which turns out to depend on the mode number. When this state is unstable, the growth rates are also functions of the mode number. Explicit calculations are performed for the α-Hamiltonian mean field model with 0≤α<1, for which the mean-field mode is always found to dominate the exponential growth. The theoretical predictions are successfully compared with numerical simulations performed on a finite lattice.

Today most hospital administrators are convinced they should implement long-range planning. The marketing approach to long-range planning is an effective strategy that is consumer oriented. It starts the planning process with the consumer, letting the consumer's needs and wants guide the organization's planning.

Neural synchronization across long distances is a functionally important phenomenon in health and disease. In order to access the basis of different modes of long-range synchrony, we monitor spiking activities over centimetre scale in cortical networks and show that the mode of synchrony depends upon a length scale, λ, which is the minimal path that activity should propagate through to find its point of origin ready for reactivation. When λ is larger than the physical dimension of the network, distant neuronal populations operate synchronously, giving rise to irregularly occurring network-wide events that last hundreds of milliseconds to several seconds. In contrast, when λ approaches the dimension of the network, a continuous self-sustained reentry propagation emerges, a regular seizure-like mode that is marked by precise spatiotemporal patterns (‘synfire chains’) and may last many minutes. Termination of a reentry phase is preceded by a decrease of propagation speed to a halt. Stimulation decreases both propagation speed and λ values, which modifies the synchrony mode respectively. The results contribute to the understanding of the origin and termination of different modes of neural synchrony as well as their long-range spatial patterns, while hopefully catering to manipulation of the phenomena in pathological conditions. PMID:27874019

Assuming the existence of a primordial asymmetry in the dark sector, we study how long-range dark matter (DM)-baryon interactions, induced by the kinetic mixing of a new U(1) gauge boson and a photon, affect the evolution of the Sun and, in turn, the sound speed the profile obtained from helioseismology. Thanks to the explicit dependence on the exchanged momenta in the differential cross section (Rutherford-like scattering), we find that DM particles with a mass of ∼10 GeV, kinetic mixing parameter of the order of 10{sup –9}, and a mediator with a mass smaller than a few MeV improve the agreement between the best solar model and the helioseismic data without being excluded by direct detection experiments. In particular, the LUX detector will soon be able to either constrain or confirm our best-fit solar model in the presence of a dark sector with long-range interactions that reconcile helioseismology with thermal neutrino results.

Neural synchronization across long distances is a functionally important phenomenon in health and disease. In order to access the basis of different modes of long-range synchrony, we monitor spiking activities over centimetre scale in cortical networks and show that the mode of synchrony depends upon a length scale, λ, which is the minimal path that activity should propagate through to find its point of origin ready for reactivation. When λ is larger than the physical dimension of the network, distant neuronal populations operate synchronously, giving rise to irregularly occurring network-wide events that last hundreds of milliseconds to several seconds. In contrast, when λ approaches the dimension of the network, a continuous self-sustained reentry propagation emerges, a regular seizure-like mode that is marked by precise spatiotemporal patterns (‘synfire chains’) and may last many minutes. Termination of a reentry phase is preceded by a decrease of propagation speed to a halt. Stimulation decreases both propagation speed and λ values, which modifies the synchrony mode respectively. The results contribute to the understanding of the origin and termination of different modes of neural synchrony as well as their long-range spatial patterns, while hopefully catering to manipulation of the phenomena in pathological conditions.

The Stentor radar is designed to detect, recognize, and locate moving targets such as infantry, ground vehicles, helicopters, low-flying aircraft, and boats. It can be transported without difficulty and operated by unskilled personnel. Stentor's longer range gives both an earlier warning time and a reinforced detection capability at shorter distances, even on very small targets. It is a pulsed radar that eliminates fixed echoes by coherent reception and Doppler filtering. The antenna unit incorporates all the parts necessary for the transmission, reception, and processing of the radar signal. It comprises six distinct subassemblies: a conventional antenna, an antenna-bearing mechanism, a transmitter-receiver unit, a signal-processing unit, a power supply module, and a tripod for mounting the antenna unit.

measurement systems used in LRAPP-sponsored environmental acoustic exercises . All appropriate activity reports and summaries were prepared and... activities who were processing data from the two major exercises . All appropriate activity reports and sunuuaries were prepared and submitted to the...initiated the preliminary planning for at-sea exercises scheduled later in the fiscal year. All appropriate activity reports and summaries wore prepared

The President's National Space Policy of 1988 reaffirms that space activities serve a variety of vital national goals and objectives, including the strengthening of U.S. scientific, technological, political, economic, and international leadership. The new policy stresses that civil space activities contribute significantly to enhancing America's world leadership. Goals and objectives must be defined and redefined, and each advance toward a given objective must be viewed as a potential building block for future programs. This important evolutionary process for research and development is reflected, describing NASA's program planning for FY89 and later years. This plan outlines the direction of NASA's future activities by discussing goals, objectives, current programs, and plans for the future. The 1989 plan is consistent with national policy for both space and aeronautics, and with the FY89 budget that the President submitted to Congress in February 1988.

We investigate a film of dipoles oriented perpendicular to the film. The system's behavior is related to inhomogeneous non-Fermi liquid states, recently studied by Kivelson and Spivak and by Schmalian and Wolynes. The competition of short range ferromagnetic and longrange antiferromagnetic interactions causes the formation of stripes. The system has an ordered stripe-crystal phase. However, this phase is avoided unless an extremely slow annealing protocol is utilized. Without any quenched disorder during normal annealing protocols the frustrated competing interactions self-generate a stripe-glass state. The stripe glass exhibits aging, manifesting itself in waiting-time dependent correlations. A scaling analysis of the aging is presented. The long time behavior shows stretched exponential behavior, the relaxation time surprisingly exhibiting a simple activated form. Dynamical inhomogeneities are identified, both frozen domains and instantaneous crystallites.

We are concerned here with improving longrange stereo by filtering image sequences. Traditionally, measurement errors from stereo camera systems have been approximated as 3-D Gaussians, where the mean is derived by triangulation and the covariance by linearized error propagation. However, there are two problems that arise when filtering such 3-D measurements. First, stereo triangulation suffers from a range dependent statistical bias; when filtering this leads to over-estimating the true range. Second, filtering 3-D measurements derived via linearized error propagation leads to apparent filter divergence; the estimator is biased to under-estimate range. To address the first issue, we examine the statistical behavior of stereo triangulation and show how to remove the bias by series expansion. The solution to the second problem is to filter with image coordinates as measurements instead of triangulated 3-D coordinates.

We review long-range effects in electron collisions with polar molecules, starting with elastic scattering. We then go to rotationally and vibrationally inelastic processes and dissociative electron attachment. The last two are strongly affected by vibrational Feshbach resonances which have been observed and described theoretically in many systems from simple diatomic molecules to more complex polyatomics, biologically relevant molecules, and van der Waals clusters. We then review environmental effects which include electron interaction with molecules adsorbed on surfaces and molecules in cluster environments. We concentrate on physics rather than on listing results of ab initio calculations. With increasing complexity of targets and processes model approaches become more relevant. We demonstrate their success in the theoretical description of electron attachment to polyatomic molecules and to molecules in complex environments.

Maritime Administration invited Richard M. Muther to address the group on the subject of longrange facility planning. Atlanta, Georgia. by MARAD was...NASSCO submitted a contract proposal to MARAD for cost sharing the development of NASSCO’s LongRange Facility Plan. Richard M. Muther addressed...given from United States A week-long seminar sponsored to train facility planners shipyards in the Muther tech- niques of longrange facility planning

A theoretical understanding of the DNA melting transition may provide insight into the biological mechanisms of transcription and replication. If this process occurs via nucleation, it should exhibit several key features: metastability, rapid spontaneous growth, and droplet formation. In this talk, I describe the results of recent computational and theoretical studies on nearest-neighbor and long-range DNA models. While the models exhibit some characteristics of classical nucleation when the interaction range is short, they may undergo spinodal nucleation when the interaction range is long. In contrast to classical nucleation droplets, which are compact, spinodal critical droplets are diffuse, fractal-like, and similar to the metastable state. These results have clear implications for transcription and replication in biological DNA.

The creation of ultracold molecules is currently limited to diatomic species. In this Letter, we present a theoretical description of the photoassociation of ultracold atoms and molecules to create ultracold excited triatomic molecules, thus being a novel example of a light-assisted ultracold chemical reaction. The calculation of the photoassociation rate of an ultracold Cs_{2} molecule in its rovibrational ground state with an ultracold Cs atom at frequencies close to its resonant excitation is reported, based on the solution of the quantum dynamics involving the atom-molecule long-range interactions and assuming a model potential for the short-range physics. The rate for the formation of excited Cs_{3} molecules is predicted to be comparable with currently observed atom-atom photoassociation rates. We formulate an experimental proposal to observe this process relying on the available techniques of optical lattices and standard photoassociation spectroscopy.

We simulate the long-range inter-complex electronic energy transfer in photosystem II-from the antenna complex, via a core complex, to the reaction center-using a non-Markovian (ZOFE) quantum master equation description that allows the electronic coherence involved in the energy transfer to be explicitly included at all length scales. This allows us to identify all locations where coherence is manifested and to further identify the pathways of the energy transfer in the full network of coupled chromophores using a description based on excitation probability currents. We investigate how the energy transfer depends on the initial excitation-localized, coherent initial excitation versus delocalized, incoherent initial excitation-and find that the overall energy transfer is remarkably robust with respect to such strong variations of the initial condition. To explore the importance of vibrationally enhanced transfer and to address the question of optimization in the system parameters, we systematically vary the strength of the coupling between the electronic and the vibrational degrees of freedom. We find that the natural parameters lie in a (broad) region that enables optimal transfer efficiency and that the overall long-range energy transfer on a ns time scale appears to be very robust with respect to variations in the vibronic coupling of up to an order of magnitude. Nevertheless, vibrationally enhanced transfer appears to be crucial to obtain a high transfer efficiency, with the latter falling sharply for couplings outside the optimal range. Comparison of our full quantum simulations to results obtained with a "classical" rate equation based on a modified-Redfield/generalized-Förster description previously used to simulate energy transfer dynamics in the entire photosystem II complex shows good agreement for the overall time scales of excitation energy transport.

Long-range attractions in aqueous suspensions were observed between polymeric microspheres and also between microspheres and a gel bead. Attractive displacements were consistently seen even between like-charged entities, and they were observed over spans as large as 2 mm. Such behaviors are unexpected, and may reside in a long-range attraction mechanism.

We propose a method to calculate the large deviations of current fluctuations in a class of stochastic particle systems with history-dependent rates. Long-range temporal correlations are seen to alter the speed of the large deviation function in analogy with long-range spatial correlations in equilibrium systems. We give some illuminating examples and discuss the applicability of the Gallavotti-Cohen fluctuation theorem.

Considering the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation as a representative model, we report a unified presentation of different forms of incoherent shock waves that emerge in the long-range interaction regime of a turbulent optical wave system. These incoherent singularities can develop either in the temporal domain through a highly noninstantaneous nonlinear response, or in the spatial domain through a highly nonlocal nonlinearity. In the temporal domain, genuine dispersive shock waves (DSW) develop in the spectral dynamics of the random waves, despite the fact that the causality condition inherent to the response function breaks the Hamiltonian structure of the NLS equation. Such spectral incoherent DSWs are described in detail by a family of singular integro-differential kinetic equations, e.g. Benjamin-Ono equation, which are derived from a nonequilibrium kinetic formulation based on the weak Langmuir turbulence equation. In the spatial domain, the system is shown to exhibit a large scale global collective behavior, so that it is the fluctuating field as a whole that develops a singularity, which is inherently an incoherent object made of random waves. Despite the Hamiltonian structure of the NLS equation, the regularization of such a collective incoherent shock does not require the formation of a DSW - the regularization is shown to occur by means of a different process of coherence degradation at the shock point. We show that the collective incoherent shock is responsible for an original mechanism of spontaneous nucleation of a phase-space hole in the spectrogram dynamics. The robustness of such a phase-space hole is interpreted in the light of incoherent dark soliton states, whose different exact solutions are derived in the framework of the long-range Vlasov formalism.

Long-range diffusive effects are included in a discrete Hindmarsh-Rose neural network. Their impact on the emergence of nonlinear patterns is investigated via the modulational instability. The whole system is first shown to fully reduce to a single nonlinear differential-difference equation, which has plane wave solutions. The stability of such solutions is investigated and regions of instability are found to be importantly influenced by long-range parameters. The analytical results are confirmed through direct numerical simulations, where scattered and chaotic patterns illustrate the long-range effect. Synchronized states are described by quasi-periodic patterns for nearest-neighbor coupling. The external stimulus is also shown to efficiently control strong long-range effects via more regular spatiotemporal patterns.

The authors present the implementation of an algorithm to generate Gaussian random noises with prescribed time correlations that can be either long or short ranged. Examples of Langevin dynamics with short and longrange noises are presented and discussed.

UN medium range projections prepared in the 1980 assessment projected the population of individual countries up to the year 2025. The longrange projections discussed here were prepared by projecting the population of 8 major world regions from 2025-2100. The purpose of the projection was to observe the implications of the changes from the 1978 assessment made in the 1980 medium range projections on the longrange projections of the world's populations. As in previous projections, high, medium, and low variants were prepared in which fertility is assumed to be constant at the replacement level but at different times in the future. In addition, these projections contain 2 variants not previously prepared--namely, the growth and decline variants, in which the ultimate net reproduction rate is 1.05 and 0.95, respectively. In all the variants, expectation of life at birth is assumed to reach 75 years for males and 80 for females. According to the current medium variant projection, the earth's population will become stationary after 2095 at 10.2 billion persons, compared with a total of 10.5 billion projected in the 1978 assessment. The lower projection is largely attributable to a recent decline in the growth rate of several countries in South Asia which was greater than previously assumed. When the world population becomes stationary, both crude birth and death rates would be about 13/1000. In the decline variant, total population would peak at 7.7 billion in 2055, then decline gradually to 7.2 billion in 2100. The total population as projected by the growth variant would equal 14.9 billion in 2100 and would still be growing slowly. Between 1980 and 2050, 95% of the world's growth will occur in the currently less developed regions. Their share of total population will increase from 75-85% during that period. The age structure in all regions is expected to converge to 1 in which the median age is 39 years, the proportion both below age 15 and above age 64 is about 19

The results of a theoretical and experimental investigation of long-range surface magnetoplasmons in thin, magnetic metal films are presented. With a transversely applied magnetic field, the reflectance modulation measurements from prism-coupled modes in nickel films are in agreement with the theory. The reflectance modulation is the same order of magnitude for prism-coupled long-range and single-interface magnetoplasmons.

REPORT Final Report: Dynamics of quantum matter with long-range entanglement. 14. ABSTRACT 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: Recent experiments on...ultracold atoms in optical lattices have opened a remarkable new window on the dynamics of quantum matter with long-range entanglement. The simplest...paradigm of this is the boson superfluid-insulator quantum phase transition in two spatial dimensions. This project will study the theoretical

In view of the long-term seismic activity in the world, homogeneity of a global catalog is indispensable. Lately, Engdahl and Villaseñor (2002) compiled a global earthquake catalog of magnitude (M)7.0 or larger during the last century (1900-1999). This catalog is based on the various existing catalogs such as Abe catalog (Abe, 1981, 1984; Abe and Noguchi, 1983a, b) for the world seismicity (1894-1980), its modified catalogs by Perez and Scholz (1984) and by Pacheco and Sykes (1992), and also the Harvard University catalog since 1975. However, the original surface wave magnitudes of Abe catalog were systematically changed by Perez and Scholz (1984) and Pacheco and Sykes (1992). They suspected inhomogeneity of the Abe catalog and claimed that the two seeming changes in the occurrence rate around 1922 and 1948 resulted from magnitude shifts for some instrumental-related reasons. They used a statistical test assuming that such a series of large earthquakes in the world should behave as the stationary Poisson process (uniform occurrences). It is obvious that their claim strongly depends on their a priori assumption of an independent or short-range dependence of earthquake occurrence. We question this assumption from the viewpoint of long-rangedependence of seismicity. We make some statistical analyses of the spectrum, dispersion-time diagrams and R/S for estimating and testing of the long-range correlations. We also attempt to show the possibility that the apparent rate change in the global seismicity can be simulated by a certain long-range correlated process. Further, if we divide the globe into the two regions of high and low latitudes, for example, we have different shapes of the cumulative curves to each other, and the above mentioned apparent change-points disappear from the both regions. This suggests that the Abe catalog shows the genuine seismic activity rather than the artifact of the suspected magnitude shifts that should appear in any wide enough regions

Restructuring of metals by chiral molecules represents an important route to inducing and controlling enantioselective surface chemistry. Tartaric acid adsorption on Cu(110) has served as a useful system for understanding many aspects of chiral molecule adsorption and ordering on a metal surface, and a number of chiral and achiral unit cells have been reported. Herein, we show that given the appropriate annealing treatment, singly deprotonated tartaric acid monolayers can restructure the Cu metal itself, and that the resulting structure is both highly ordered and chiral. Molecular resolution scanning tunneling microscopy reveals that singly deprotonated tartaric acid extracts Cu atoms from the Cu(110) surface layer and incorporates them into highly ordered, chiral adatom arrays capped by a continuous molecular layer. Further evidence for surface restructuring comes from images of atom-deep trenches formed in the Cu(110) surface during the process. These trenches also run in low symmetry directions and are themselves chiral. Simulated scanning tunneling microscopy images are consistent with the appearance of the added atom rows and etched trenches. The chiral imprinting results in a long-range, highly ordered unit cell covering the whole surface as confirmed by low energy electron diffraction. Details of the restructuring mechanism were further investigated via time-lapse imaging at elevated temperature. This work reveals the stages of nanoscale surface restructuring and offers an interesting method for chiral modification of an achiral metal surface.

Modeling long-range epidemic spreading in a random environment, we consider a quenched, disordered, d -dimensional contact process with infection rates decaying with distance as 1 /rd +σ . We study the dynamical behavior of the model at and below the epidemic threshold by a variant of the strong-disorder renormalization-group method and by Monte Carlo simulations in one and two spatial dimensions. Starting from a single infected site, the average survival probability is found to decay as P (t ) ˜t-d /z up to multiplicative logarithmic corrections. Below the epidemic threshold, a Griffiths phase emerges, where the dynamical exponent z varies continuously with the control parameter and tends to zc=d +σ as the threshold is approached. At the threshold, the spatial extension of the infected cluster (in surviving trials) is found to grow as R (t ) ˜t1 /zc with a multiplicative logarithmic correction and the average number of infected sites in surviving trials is found to increase as Ns(t ) ˜(lnt) χ with χ =2 in one dimension.

Modeling long-range epidemic spreading in a random environment, we consider a quenched, disordered, d-dimensional contact process with infection rates decaying with distance as 1/rd+σ. We study the dynamical behavior of the model at and below the epidemic threshold by a variant of the strong-disorder renormalization-group method and by Monte Carlo simulations in one and two spatial dimensions. Starting from a single infected site, the average survival probability is found to decay as P(t)∼t-d/z up to multiplicative logarithmic corrections. Below the epidemic threshold, a Griffiths phase emerges, where the dynamical exponent z varies continuously with the control parameter and tends to zc=d+σ as the threshold is approached. At the threshold, the spatial extension of the infected cluster (in surviving trials) is found to grow as R(t)∼t1/zc with a multiplicative logarithmic correction and the average number of infected sites in surviving trials is found to increase as Ns(t)∼(lnt)χ with χ=2 in one dimension.

This report, the ORNL Long-Range Environmental and Waste Management Plan, is the annual update in a series begun in fiscal year 1985. Its primary purpose is to provide a thorough and systematic planning document to reflect the continuing process of site assessment, strategy development, and planning for the current and long-term control of environmental issues, waste management practices, and remedial action requirements. The document also provides an estimate of the resources required to implement the current plan. This document is not intended to be a budget document; it is, however, intended to provide guidance to both Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc., and the US Department of Energy (DOE) management as to the near order of magnitude of the resources (primarily funding requirements) and the time frame required to execute the strategy in the present revision of the plan. As with any document of this nature, the near-term (one to three years) part of the plan is a pragmatic assessment of the current program and ongoing capital projects and reflects the efforts perceived to be necessary to comply with all current state and federal regulations and DOE orders. It also should be in general agreement with current budget (funding) requests and obligations for these immediate years. 55 figs., 72 tabs.

Using filter-space techniques, we study the spatial structure of the turbulent stress that couples motion on different length scales in a quasi-two-dimensional laboratory flow. As the length scale increases, we observe the appearance of long-range, system-spanning spatial order of this stress, even though the flow field remains disordered. Suggestively, this ordering occurs only in the range of scales over which we find net inverse energy transfer to larger scales. However, we find that a field built from wave vectors with random phases also displays ordering, suggesting that at least some of the ordering we observe is purely kinematic. Our results help to clarify the role played by geometric alignment in the turbulent energy cascade and highlight the importance of the scale-dependent rate of strain in the energy-transfer process.

This Engineering Technology Division Long-Range Plan is a departure from planning processes of the past. About a year ago we decided to approach our strategic planning in a very different way. With this plan we complete the first phase of a comprehensive process that has involved most of the Division staff. Through a series of brainstorming''meetings, we have accumulated a wealth of ideas. By this process, we have been able to identify our perceived strengths and weaknesses and to propose very challenging goals for the future. Early on in our planning, we selected two distinct areas where we desire changes. First, we want to pursue program development in a much more structured and dynamic manner: deciding what we want to do, developing plans, and providing the resources to follow through. Second, we want to change the way that we do business by developing more effective ways to work together within the Division and with the important groups that we interact with throughout Energy Systems. These initiatives are reflected in the plan and in related actions that the Division is implementing. The ETD mission is to perform research, development, conceptual design, analysis, fabrication, testing, and system demonstration of technology essential for (1) nuclear reactor systems and related technologies (2) space and defense systems (3) advanced systems for energy conversion and utilization, and (4) water and waste management systems, and to foster a vigorous program of technology transfer using the best available techniques of technical infusion into the marketplace. In meeting this mission, the Division will institute a documented pollution prevention program, ensure that environmental impact statements are prepared for the supporting program, and adhere to all environmental safety and health requirements. 4 figs., 2 tabs.

This article describes further evidence for a new neural network theory of biological motion perception. The theory clarifies why parallel streams V1----V2, V1----MT, and V1----V2----MT exist for static form and motion form processing among the areas V1, V2, and MT of visual cortex. The theory suggests that the static form system (Static BCS) generates emergent boundary segmentations whose outputs are insensitive to direction-of-contrast and to direction-of-motion, whereas the motion form system (Motion BCS) generates emergent boundary segmentations whose outputs are insensitive to direction-of-contrast but sensitive to direction-of-motion. The theory is used to explain classical and recent data about short-range and long-range apparent motion percepts that have not yet been explained by alternative models. These data include beta motion, split motion, gamma motion and reverse-contrast gamma motion, delta motion, and visual inertia. Also included are the transition from group motion to element motion in response to a Ternus display as the interstimulus interval (ISI) decreases; group motion in response to a reverse-contrast Ternus display even at short ISIs; speed-up of motion velocity as interflash distance increases or flash duration decreases; dependence of the transition from element motion to group motion on stimulus duration and size, various classical dependencies between flash duration, spatial separation, ISI, and motion threshold known as Korte's laws; dependence of motion strength on stimulus orientation and spatial frequency; short-range and long-range form-color interactions; and binocular interactions of flashes to different eyes.

The purpose of this opening talk is to describe examples of recent progress in applying statistical mechanics to biological systems. We first briefly review several biological systems, and then focus on the fractal features characterized by the long-range correlations found recently in DNA sequences containing non-coding material. We discuss the evidence supporting the finding that for sequences containing only coding regions, there are no long-range correlations. We also discuss the recent finding that the exponent alpha characterizing the long-range correlations increases with evolution, and we discuss two related models, the insertion model and the insertion-deletion model, that may account for the presence of long-range correlations. Finally, we summarize the analysis of long-term data on human heartbeats (up to 10(4) heart beats) that supports the possibility that the successive increments in the cardiac beat-to-beat intervals of healthy subjects display scale-invariant, long-range "anti-correlations" (a tendency to beat faster is balanced by a tendency to beat slower later on). In contrast, for a group of subjects with severe heart disease, long-range correlations vanish. This finding suggests that the classical theory of homeostasis, according to which stable physiological processes seek to maintain "constancy," should be extended to account for this type of dynamical, far from equilibrium, behavior.

Lattice quantum field theories containing fermions can be formulated in a chirally invariant way provided long-range interactions are introduced. It is established that in weak-coupling perturbation theory such a lattice theory is renormalizable when the corresponding continuum theory is, and that the continuum theory is indeed recovered in the perturbative continuum limit. In the strong-coupling limit of these theories one is led to study an effective Hamiltonian describing a Heisenberg antiferromagnet with long-range interactions. Block-spin renormalization group methods are used to find a critical rate of falloff of the interactions, approximately as inverse distance squared, which separates a nearest-neighbor-antiferromagnetic phase from a phase displaying identifiable long-range effects. A duality-type symmetry is present in some block-spin calculations.

Performance of long-range energy system analyses requires the capability to project conventional domestic oil and gas supplies in the long term. The objective of the Long-range Forecasting Methodology project is to formulate an approach to this problem which will be compatible with the principal tool employed by the Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy for long-range energy system analyses, the Long-term Energy Analysis Package (LEAP). This paper reports on projection methodologies that have appeared in the literature, evaluates them in terms of their applicability to the LEAP framework, and discusses the principal determinants of conventional domestic oil and gas supply in the long run.

Water diffusion within smectite clay interlayers is reduced by confinement and hence is highly determined by the interlayer spacings that are adopted during swelling. However, a molecular understanding of the short- and long-range forces governing interlayer water structure and dynamics is lacking. Using molecular dynamics simulations of water intercalated between pyrophyllite (smectite prototype) layers we provide a detailed picture of the variation of interlayered water mobility accompanying smectite expansion. Subtle changes in hydrogen bond network structure cause significant changes in water mobility that is greater for stable hydration states and reduced for intermediate separations. By studying pyrophyllite with and without external water we reveal that long-range electrostatic forces apply a restraining effect upon interlayer water mobility. Our findings are relevant for broad range of confining nanostructures with walls thin enough to permit long-range interactions that could affect the mobility of confined solvent molecules and solute species. PMID:27118164

Longrange sound propagation is an aspect of many acoustical problems ranging from en route aircraft noise to the acoustic detection of aircraft. Over the past decade, the University of Mississippi and the Open University of England, together with a third institution, have held a symposium approx. every 2 years so that experts in the field of longrange propagation could exchange information on current research, identify areas needing additional work, and coordinate activities as much as possible. The Fourth International Symposium on LongRange Sound Propagation was jointly sponsored by the University of Mississippi, the Open University of England, and NASA. Papers were given in the following areas: ground effects on propagation; infrasound propagation; and meteorological effects on sound propagation. A compilation of the presentations made at the symposium is presented along with a list of attendees, and the agenda.

This report examines the design of a longrange cargo transport to attempt to reduce ton-mile shipping costs and to stimulate the air cargo market. This design effort involves the usual issues but must also include consideration of: airport terminal facilities; cargo loading and unloading; and defeating the 'square-cube' law to design large structures. This report reviews the longrange transport design problem and several solutions developed by senior student design teams at Purdue University. The results show that it will be difficult to build large transports unless the infrastructure is changed and unless the basic form of the airplane changes so that aerodynamic and structural efficiencies are employed.

The small long-range alpha detector developed by N-2 was described in detail in the Los Alamos publication LA-12073-MS, Long-Range Alpha Detector,'' published in 1991. Since publication of that report, a computerized data acquisition system has been added to the LRAD detector. In addition to detailing the new data acquisition system, we discuss new data generated with the enhanced system, including measurements of (1) ultimate sensitivity; (2) detector linearity; (3) ion lifetime; and (4) characteristics. Furthermore, we have expanded our understanding of ion recombination and statistical noise effects in the LRAD and have addressed them here as well as several proposed applications. 6 refs., 30 figs.

The specific heat spectra of long-range correlated DNA molecules is theoretically analyzed for a stacked array of single-stranded DNA made up from the nucleotides guanine G, adenine A, cytosine C and thymine T arranged in the Fibonacci and Rudin-Shapiro quasiperiodic sequences, with the aim to compare them with those related with a genomic DNA sequence. The energy spectra are calculated using the one-dimensional Schrödinger equation in a tight-binding approximation with the on-site energy exhibiting long-range disorder and nonrandom hopping amplitudes.

Ocean acoustic tomography was proposed by Munk and Wunsch (1979) as a method for making measurements of ocean variability over large areas. After the successful demonstration of the feasibility of the idea in the 1981 three-dimensional mesoscale experiment (Ocean Tomography Group, 1982) the tomography group has proposed a new experiment to be carried out in 1986 in the eastern Pacific Ocean on ranges as long as the subtropical gyre scale. In this paper the gyre-scale experiment is simulated in the model ocean, using Holland's eddy-resolving general circulation quasi-geostrophic model. The paper addresses the following issues: (1) measurement of the heat content vertical profile horizontally averaged along the tomographic section; (2) adequacy of the linearized inverse over very longranges and the need for its improvement; (3) possible improvements in the specification of the field statistics to obtain more accurate estimates and to measure properties like average pycnocline trends; (4) relationship of possible range-dependent information from the inversion to the assigned noise level. The results of the modeling simulation can be summarized as follows: (1) The linearized stochastic inversion needs to be improved for gyre-scale ranges providing estimates of the average heat content that have warm or cold biases. Iteration is used and shown to provide good estimates of the average heat content. (2) A smaller number of iterations is necessary if the initial estimate is improved. This can be done by including a spatial mean in the horizontal covariance function for regions of the ocean where the energy level in the mean and in the long length scales may be even more important than the mesoscale energy peak. (3) General trends like average pycnocline slopes can be estimated very well by including an inhomogeneous covariance in the inversion. (4) The estimates of the mean heat content values and of the average slopes are rather insensitive to the specified noise level

A longrange development plan, conceived as a general guide to final objectives, uses many diagrams and maps to illustrate the text. The plan is predicated on the assumption that orderly and efficient development of site possibilities is subject to ever-changing influences. The following areas are examined--(1) campus environment, (2) academic…

The use of strategic long-range planning at Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) is discussed. A structure for strategic planning analysis that integrates existing techniques is presented, and examples of planning activities at CMU are included. The key concept in strategic planning is competitive advantage: if a university has a competitive…

This is a series of 3 reports to the Colorado College faculty and administration on a long-range plan. The first report deals with some of the technical features of a modular course plan, mainly: (1) the construction of a modular schedule, (2) registration and enrollment procedures, and (3) campus space and fixtures. The second report contains a…

The temporal dynamics and anatomical correlates underlying human visual cognition are traditionally assessed as a function of stimulus properties and task demands. Any non-stimulus related activity is commonly dismissed as noise and eliminated to extract an evoked signal that is only a small fraction of the magnitude of the measured signal. We review studies that challenge this view by showing that non-stimulus related activity is not mere noise but that it has a well-structured organization which can largely determine the processing of upcoming stimuli. We review recent evidence from human electrophysiology that shows how different aspects of pre-stimulus activity such as pre-stimulus EEG frequency power and phase and pre-stimulus EEG microstates can determine qualitative and quantitative properties of both lower and higher-level visual processing. These studies show that low-level sensory processesdepend on the momentary excitability of sensory cortices whereas perceptual processes leading to stimulus awareness depend on momentary pre-stimulus activity in higher-level non-visual brain areas. Also speed and accuracy of stimulus identification have likewise been shown to be modulated by pre-stimulus brain states. PMID:22203809

Influence of mineral dust on radiation balance is largely dependent on their ability to interact with water. While fresh mineral dusts are highly hydrophobic, various transformation processes (coagulation, heterogeneous chemical reaction) can modify the dust physical and chemical properties during long-range transport, which, in turn, can change the dust hygroscopic properties. The model predictions of the radiative effect by mineral dust still suffer of the lack of certainty of dust hygroscopic properties, and their temporal evolution during long-range transport. We present the first direct surface measurements of the hygroscopicity of Saharan dust after long-range transport over the Atlantic Ocean, their relationship with chemical composition, their influence on particle size and shape and implications for optical properties. Particles were collected during the DUST Aging and TransporT from Africa to the Caribbean (Dust-AttaCk) campaign at the Cape San Juan Puerto Rico station in June-July 2012. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) was used to analyze the size, shape, chemical composition and hygroscopic properties of individual particles. At different levels of concentrations in summertime, the coarse mode of atmospheric aerosols in Puerto Rico is dominated by Saharan mineral dust. Most of aged dust particles survived atmospheric transport intact with no observed internal mixture with other species and did not show hygroscopic growth up to 94% relative humidity. This is certainly due to the fact that in summertime dust is mostly transported above the marine boundary layer. A minor portion of mineral dust (approximately 19-28% by number) were involved in atmospheric heterogeneous reactions with acidic gases (likely SO2 and HCl) and sea salt aggregation. While sulfate- and chloride-coated dust remained extremely hydrophobic, dust particles in internal mixing with NaCl underwent profound changes in their hygroscopicity, therefore in size and shape. We

This paper investigates urban traffic data by analysing the long-range correlation with detrended fluctuation analysis. Through a large number of real data collected by the travel time detection system in Beijing, the variation of flow in different time periods and intersections is studied. According to the long-range correlation in different time scales, it mainly discusses the effect of intersection location in road net, people activity customs and special traffic controls on urban traffic flow. As demonstrated by the obtained results, the urban traffic flow represents three-phase characters similar to highway traffic. Moreover, compared by the two groups of data obtained before and after the special traffic restrictions (vehicles with special numbered plates only run in a special workday) enforcement, it indicates that the rules not only reduce the flow but also avoid irregular fluctuation.

Aircraft manufacturers are examining the market and feasibility of long-range passenger aircraft carrying more than 600 passengers. These aircraft would carry travelers at reduced cost and, at the same time, reduce congestion around major airports. The design of a large, long-range transport involves broad issues such as: the integration of airport terminal facilities; passenger loading and unloading; trade-offs between aircraft size and the cost to reconfigure these existing facilities; and, defeating the 'square-cube' law. Thirteen Purdue design teams generated RFP's that defined passenger capability and range, based upon team perception of market needs and infrastructure constraints. Turbofan engines were designed by each group to power these aircraft. The design problem and the variety of solutions developed are reviewed.

Temperature inversions occur in nature, e.g., in the solar corona and in interstellar molecular clouds: Somewhat counterintuitively, denser parts of the system are colder than dilute ones. We propose a simple and appealing way to spontaneously generate temperature inversions in systems with long-range interactions, by preparing them in inhomogeneous thermal equilibrium states and then applying an impulsive perturbation. In similar situations, short-range systems would typically relax to another thermal equilibrium, with a uniform temperature profile. By contrast, in long-range systems, the interplay between wave-particle interaction and spatial inhomogeneity drives the system to nonequilibrium stationary states that generically exhibit temperature inversion. We demonstrate this mechanism in a simple mean-field model and in a two-dimensional self-gravitating system. Our work underlines the crucial role the range of interparticle interaction plays in determining the nature of steady states out of thermal equilibrium.

It is normally assumed that electrons and holes in organic solar cells are generated by the dissociation of excitons at the interface between donor and acceptor materials in strongly bound hole-electron pairs. We show in this contribution that excitons can dissociate tens of angstroms away from the interface and generate partially separated electrons and holes, which can more easily overcome their coulombic attraction and form free charges. We first establish under what conditions long-range exciton dissociation is likely (using a kinetic model and a microscopic model for the calculation of the long-range electron transfer rate). Then, defining a rather general model Hamiltonian for the donor material, we show that the phenomenon is extremely common in the majority of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Throughout the world, extremes in environmental sciences are of prime importance. They are key variables not only for risk assessments and engineering designs (e.g. of dams and bridges), but also for resource management (e.g. water and energy) and for land use. A better understanding of them is more and more indispensable in settling the debate on their possible climatological evolution. Whereas it took decades before a uniform technique for estimating flow frequencies within a stationary framework, it is often claimed that « stationarity is dead ! ». The fact that geophysical and environmental fields are variable over a wider range of scales than previously thought require to go beyond the limits of the (classical) Extreme Value Theory (EVT). Indeed, long-range correlations are beyond the scope of the classical EVT theory. We show that multifractal concepts and techniques are particularly appealing because they can effectively deal with a cascade of interactions concentrating for instance energy, liquid water, etc. into smaller and smaller space-time domains. Furthermore, a general outcome of these cascade processes -which surprisingly was realized only rather recently- is that rather independently of their details they yield probability distributions with power-law fall-offs, often called (asymptotic) Pareto or Zipf laws. We discuss the corresponding probability distributions of their maxima and its relationship with the Frechet law. We use these multifractal techniques to investigate the possibility of using very short or incomplete data records for reliable statistical predictions of the extremes. In particular we assess the multifractal parameter uncertainty with the help of long synthetic multifractal series and their sub-samples, in particular to obtain an approximation of confidence intervals that would be particularly important for the predictions of multifractal extremes. We finally illustrate the efficiency of this approach with its application to

Multiple scattering of light in a trap of laser cooled neutral atoms leads to repulsion forces between the atoms. The corresponding interactions have longrange behavior in 1/r{sup 2} and are thus similar to Coulomb interaction in an one component confined plasma. Consequences of these interactions will be described in this paper, including the limitation of the spatial density one can obtain in such systems and self-sustained oscillations of the cloud.

Observations with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are scheduled with the assistance of a long-range scheduling system (SPIKE) that was developed using artificial intelligence techniques. In earlier papers, the system architecture and the constraint representation and propagation mechanisms were described. The development of high-level automated scheduling tools, including tools based on constraint satisfaction techniques and neural networks is described. The performance of these tools in scheduling HST observations is discussed.

hull. 2 Batteries are a significant part of a glider payload so a new glider design is needed to use seawater batteries. Consequently, our...use in marine vehicles. 2. Design a prototype long-range underwater vehicle to exploit the new power source. 3. Build and report the field...carry out field tests, and head up new -vehicle design studies. The approach for battery testing was to characterize battery performance in laboratory

The defect layer is introduced to the insulator-metal-insulator (IMI) Bragg waveguide structure. The micro-cavity structure of long-range surface plasma is proposed based on the defect mode. The liquid crystal is the defect layer in the structure of Bragg. The energy band characteristics of the long-range surface plasmon Bragg micro-cavity structure are analyzed by using the finite difference time domain method. The influence of the period number and the length of the micro-cavity on the quality factor Q and the volume V of the Bragg grating are discussed. The results show that the photonic energy can be confined very well in the micro-cavity by the structure of the micro-cavity. By controlling the birefringence of liquid crystal, the resonance wavelength of the micro-cavity appears with redshift phenomenon. The tuning range is 42 nm. The tuning of the working window of the long-range surface plasmon filter is realized. The photonic energy is the strongest in the insulating layer and the metal interface. The increase of cycles number has certain limitation on the improvement of the quality factor Q of the cavity. The influence of the defect-cavity length on the resonant wavelength, the quality factor Q and the mode volume V is obvious. The performance of the micro-cavity can be improved by adjusting the number of the micro-cavity and the length of the defect-cavity, and the ratio of Q/V can reach 43,750 in the communication band. The nano micro-cavity provides a new design idea and basis for the fabrication of tunable long-range surface plasmon wave filter in this paper.

We propose a scheme for deterministic generation and long-term stabilization of entanglement between two electronic spin qubits confined in spatially separated quantum dots. Our approach relies on an electronic quantum bus, consisting either of quantum Hall edge channels or surface acoustic waves, that can mediate long-range coupling between localized spins over distances of tens of micrometers. Since the entanglement is actively stabilized by dissipative dynamics, our scheme is inherently robust against noise and imperfections.

During the period from August 1991 - June 1992 two design classes at Purdue University participated in the design of a longrange, high capacity transport aircraft, dubbed the megatransport. Thirteen Purdue design teams generated RFP's that defined passenger capability and range, based upon team perception of market needs and infrastructure constraints. Turbofan engines were designed by each group to power these aircraft. The design problem and the variety of solutions developed are described in an attached paper.

We present a system exhibiting extraordinarily long-range cooperative effects, on a length scale far exceeding the bulk correlation length. We give a theoretical explanation of these phenomena based on the mesoscopic picture of phase coexistence in finite systems, which is confirmedly Monte Carlo (MC) simulation studies. Our work demonstrates that such action-at-a-distance can occur in classical systems involving simple or complex fluids, such as colloid-polymer mixtures, or ferromagnets.

Unlike droplet nucleation near a liquid-gas critical point, the decay of metastable phases in crystalline materials is strongly affected by the presence of long-range forces. Field quench experiments performed on the ferroelectric barium titanate indicate that nucleation in this material is markedly different from that observed in liquids. In this paper, a theory for nucleation at a first-order phase transition in which the mediating forces are longrange is presented. It is found that the long-range force induces cooperative nucleation and growth processes, and that this feedback mechanism produces a well-defined delay time with a sharp onset in the transformation to the stable phase. Closed-form expressions for the characteristic onset time and width of the transition are developed, in good agreement with numerical and experimental results.

Segmentation is a standard method of data analysis to identify change-points dividing a nonstationary time series into homogeneous segments. However, for long-range fractal correlated series, most of the segmentation techniques detect spurious change-points which are simply due to the heterogeneities induced by the correlations and not to real nonstationarities. To avoid this oversegmentation, we present a segmentation algorithm which takes as a reference for homogeneity, instead of a random i.i.d. series, a correlated series modeled by a fractional noise with the same degree of correlations as the series to be segmented. We apply our algorithm to artificial series with long-range correlations and show that it systematically detects only the change-points produced by real nonstationarities and not those created by the correlations of the signal. Further, we apply the method to the sequence of the long arm of human chromosome 21, which is known to have long-range fractal correlations. We obtain only three segments that clearly correspond to the three regions of different G + C composition revealed by means of a multi-scale wavelet plot. Similar results have been obtained when segmenting all human chromosome sequences, showing the existence of previously unknown huge compositional superstructures in the human genome. PMID:23645997

The efficient long-range propagation in the atmosphere makes infrasound of active volcanoes extremely promising and opens new perspectives for volcano monitoring at large scale. In favourable propagation conditions, long-range infrasound observations can be used to track the occurrence and the duration of volcanic eruptions also at remote non-monitored volcanoes, but its potential to infer volcanic eruptive source term is still debated. We present results of comparing five years of infrasound of eruptive activity at Mt.Etna volcano (Italy) recorded both at local (~5 km) and at regional distances (~600 km) from the source. Infrasound of lava fountains at Etna volcano, occurring in between 2010 and 2015, are analysed in terms of the local and regional wavefield record, and by comparing to all available volcanic source terms (i.e. plume height and mass eruption rates). Besides, the potential of near real-time notification of ongoing volcanic activity at Etna volcano at a regional scale is investigated. In particular we show how longrange infrasound, in the case of Etna volcano, can be used to promptly deliver eruption notification and reliability is constrained by the results of the local array. This work is performed in the framework of the H2020 ARISE2 project funded by the EU in the period 2015-2018.

The long-range scaling behaviours of human colonic pressure activities under normal physiological conditions are studied by using the method of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The DFA is an effective period representation with a single quantitative scaling exponent α to accurately quantify long-range correlations naturally presented in a complex non-stationary time series. The method shows that the colonic activities of the healthy subjects exhibit long-range power-law correlations; however such correlations either will be destroyed if we randomly shuffle the original data or will cease to be of a power-law form if we chop some high-amplitude spikes off. These facts indicate that the colonic tissue or enteric nervous system (ENS) with a good functional motility has a good memory to its past behaviours and generates well-organized colonic spikes; however such good memory becomes too long to be remembered for the colonic activity of the slow transit constipation (STC) patient and colonic dysmotility occurs.

Fibers with long-range ordered internal structures have applications in various areas such as photonic band gap fibers, optical waveguides, wearable power, sensors, and sustained drug release. Up to now, such fibers have been formed by melt extrusion or drawing from a macroscopic preformed rod and were typically limited to diameters >10 microm with internal features >1 microm (Abouraddy, A. F.; et al. Nat. Mater. 2007, 6, 336). We describe a new class of continuous fibers and fibrous membranes with long-range ordered concentric lamellar structure that have fiber diameters and feature sizes 2-3 orders of magnitude smaller than those made by conventional methods. These fibers are created through confined self-assembly of block copolymers within core-shell electrospun filaments. In contrast to the copolymer in bulk or thin films, the domains of the concentric lamellar structure are shown here to vary quantitatively with (radial) position and to exhibit a novel dislocation that accommodates variations in fiber diameter robustly, permitting for the first time the realization of long-range order in technologically meaningful, continuous fibers with approximately 300 nm diameter and 50 nm radial period.

Segmentation is a standard method of data analysis to identify change-points dividing a nonstationary time series into homogeneous segments. However, for long-range fractal correlated series, most of the segmentation techniques detect spurious change-points which are simply due to the heterogeneities induced by the correlations and not to real nonstationarities. To avoid this oversegmentation, we present a segmentation algorithm which takes as a reference for homogeneity, instead of a random i.i.d. series, a correlated series modeled by a fractional noise with the same degree of correlations as the series to be segmented. We apply our algorithm to artificial series with long-range correlations and show that it systematically detects only the change-points produced by real nonstationarities and not those created by the correlations of the signal. Further, we apply the method to the sequence of the long arm of human chromosome 21, which is known to have long-range fractal correlations. We obtain only three segments that clearly correspond to the three regions of different G + C composition revealed by means of a multi-scale wavelet plot. Similar results have been obtained when segmenting all human chromosome sequences, showing the existence of previously unknown huge compositional superstructures in the human genome.

The filament-like appendages known as pili, expressed by the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens, are believed to act as electrically conductive nanowires. Previously, we used scanning tunneling microscopy to study the local density of states at different positions along the wire. However, the longrange electron transfer believed to occur in this protein has not been directly observed. Here we discuss a system for verifying longrange transport using a scanning probe technique. Transport at distances of more than a few nanometers would require a novel biological electron transfer process. The authors gratefully acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (MCB-1021948) and the Michigan State University Foundation (Strategic Partnership Grant).

A detailed analysis of the surface modes of a thin slab of material of dielectric constant ɛ2 (=ɛr2-iɛi2) surrounded symmetrically by dielectric media is presented. Results show that in the thin-film limit, as well as the well-known long-range surface plasmon for a thin metal layer and the TM guided mode for a thin dielectric, a long-range surface mode exists for almost any value of ɛ2. This is even true if the imaginary part of ɛ2, ɛi2, is much larger than the real part ɛr2. We also find that a long-range surface mode may arise from the coupling between two surfaces which individually cannot support a surface mode. These are a pair of special coupled-surface modes which may exist below a certain critical film thickness and which have two separate propagation vectors each with the same field symmetry. It is also found that the inverse situation may pertain, that is for certain relative values of dielectric constants even though ordinary surface modes may exist, below a critical thickness the resulting coupled long-range mode no longer exists. The analysis has also been extended to practical situations with weakly absorbing surrounding media and to circumstances where the dielectric constants of the surrounding media are slightly different. Both of these effects modify the dispersion relations obtained for the simple case and introduce further limit thicknesses into the problem. Analytic formulas in the thin-film limit are presented for all the above situations and field distributions and energy flow (Poynting vector) profiles presented to illustrate as necessary the nature of the modes supported by these systems. Finally experimental results are presented which illustrate the rather sweeping conclusion that a long-range surface mode may exist on a thin film for almost all values of ɛr2 and ɛi2. This result paves the way for a range of optics experiments on absorbing structures.

DeKalb Technical Inst., Clarkston, GA. Office of Research and Planning.

The DeKalb Tech Model for Long-Range Planning provides the framework for a 3-year strategic planning document based on the Georgia State Board of Postsecondary Vocational Education's Evaluation, Planning, and Budgeting (EPB) process. The DeKalb Tech Model consists of five planning segments: (1) pre-planning, which includes the evaluation of…

This paper describes the design and implementation currently underway at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of a longrange science rover for future missions to Mars. The small rover prototype, called Rocky 7, is capable of long traverse. autonomous navigation. and science instrument control, carries three science instruments, and can be commanded from any computer platform and any location using the World Wide Web. In this paper we describe the mobility system, the sampling system, the sensor suite, navigation and control, onboard science instruments. and the ground command and control system.

The DIII-D Tokamak LongRange Plan for controlled thermonuclear magnetic fusion research will be carried out with broad national and international participation. The plan covers: (1) operation of the DIII-D tokamak to conduct research experiments to address needs of the US Magnetic Fusion Program; (2) facility modifications to allow these new experiments to be conducted; and (3) collaborations with other laboratories to integrate DIII-D research into the national and international fusion programs. The period covered by this plan is 1 November 19983 through 31 October 1998.

We report on long-range electronic effects caused by hydrogen-carbon interaction at the graphite surface. Two types of defects could be distinguished with a combined mode of scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy: chemisorption of hydrogen on the basal plane of graphite and atomic vacancy formation. Both types show a \\(3×3\\)R30° superlattice in the local density of states but have a different topographic structure. The range of modifications in the electronic structure, of fundamental importance for electronic devices based on carbon nanostructures, has been found to be of the order of 20-25 lattice constants.

Megatransport objectives and constraints are briefly reviewed, and certain solutions developed by student design teams at Perdue University are summarized. Particular attention is given to the market needs and the economic risks involved in such a project; and the different approaches taken to solve the problem and difficulties faced by the design teams. A longrange megatransport aircraft is aimed at carrying more than 600 passengers at reduced cost, and at the same time, reducing airport and airway congestion. The design effort must take into account airport terminal facilities; passenger loading and unloading; and defeating the 'square-cube' law to design large structures.

An assessment is presented of three separate programs that have incorporated advanced technology into the design of long-range passenger and cargo aircraft. The first technology centers around the use of a span-loaded cargo aircraft with the payload distributed along the wing. The second technology is the application of laminar flow control to the aircraft to reduce the aerodynamic drag. The last program evaluates the production of alternate aircraft fuels from coal and the use of liquid hydrogen as an aircraft fuel.

The All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) is a modular mobility and manipulation platform being developed to support NASA operations in a variety of missions, including exploration of planetary surfaces. The agile system consists of a symmetrical arrangement of six limbs, each with seven articulated degrees of freedom and a powered wheel. This design enables transport of bulky payloads over a wide range of terrains and is envisioned as a tool to mobilize habitats, power-generation equipment, and other supplies for long-range exploration and outpost construction.

We investigate direct energy and heat transfer between two distant sites of a triple quantum dot connected to reservoirs, where one of the edge dots is driven by an ac-gate voltage. We theoretically propose how to implement heat and cooling engines mediated by long-range photoassisted transport. Additionally, we propose a simple setup to heat up coherently the two reservoirs symmetrically and a mechanism to store energy in the closed system. The present proposals can be experimentally implemented and easily controlled by tuning the external parameters.

This Long-Range Plan presents the Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) Program planning status for facilities at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The plan provides a general description of the D&D Program objectives, management criteria, and philosophy; discusses current activities; and documents the INEL D&D Program cost and schedule estimate projections for the next 15 years. appendices are included that provide INEL D&D project historical information and a comprehensive descriptive summary of each current surplus facility.

We set up restricted Boltzmann machines (RBM) to reproduce the longrange Ising (LRI) models of the Ohmic type in one dimension. The RBM parameters are tuned by using the standard machine learning procedure with an additional method of configuration with probability (CwP). The quality of resultant RBM is evaluated through the susceptibility with respect to the magnetic external field. We compare the results with those by block decimation renormalization group (BDRG) method, and our RBM clear the test with satisfactory precision.

The effective spin exchange RKKY coupling between impurities (adatoms) on graphene mediated by conduction electrons is studied as a function of the strength of the potential part of the on-site energy U of the electron-adatom interaction. With increasing U , the exchange coupling becomes longrange, determined largely by the impurity levels with energies close to the Dirac points. When adatoms reside on opposite sublattices, their exchange coupling, normally antiferromagnetic, becomes ferromagnetic and resonantly enhanced at a specific distance where an impurity level crosses the Dirac point.

The Surplus Facilities Management Program (SFMP) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is part of the Department of Energy`s (DOE) National SFMP, administered by the Richland Operations Office. This program was established to provide for the management of DOE surplus radioactively contaminated facilities from the end of their operating life until final facility disposition is completed. As part of this program, the ORNL SFMP oversees some 76 individual surplus facilities, ranging in complexity from abandoned waste storage tanks to large experimental reactors. The ORNL SFMP has prepared this LongRange Plan to outline the long-term management strategy for those facilities included in the program. The primary objective of this plan are to: (1) develop a base of information for each ORNL SFMP facility, (2) conduct preliminary decommissioning analyses to identify feasible alternatives, (3) assess the current and future risk of each facility, (4) establish a priority list for the decommissioning projects, and (5) integrate the individual project costs and schedules into an overall program schedule and cost estimate for the ORNL site. The LongRange Plan also provides an overview of the ORNL SFMP management structure, specifies the decommissioning criteria to be employed, and identifies special technical problems, research and development needs, and special facilities and equipment that may be required for decommissioning operations.

The calculation of the surface tension of curved interfaces has been deeply investigated from molecular simulation during this last past decade. Recently, the thermodynamic Test-Area (TA) approach has been extended to the calculation of surface tension of curved interfaces. In the case of the cylindrical vapour-liquid interfaces of water and Lennard-Jones fluids, it was shown that the surface tension was independent of the curvature of the interface. In addition, the surface tension of the cylindrical interface is higher than that of the planar interface. Molecular simulations of cylindrical interfaces have been so far performed (i) by using a shifted potential, (ii) by means of large cutoff without periodic boundary conditions, or (iii) by ignoring the longrange corrections to the surface tension due to the difficulty to estimate them. Indeed, unlike the planar interfaces there are no available operational expressions to consider the tail corrections to the surface tension of cylindrical interfaces. We propose here to develop the longrange corrections of the surface tension for cylindrical interfaces by using the non-exponential TA (TA2) method. We also extend the formulation of the Mecke-Winkelmann corrections initially developed for planar surfaces to cylindrical interfaces. We complete this study by the calculation of the surface tension of cylindrical surfaces of liquid tin and copper using the embedded atom model potentials.

Local changes in the topology of electricity grids can cause overloads far away from the disturbance [D. Witthaut and M. Timme, Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 377 (2013)EPJBFY1434-602810.1140/epjb/e2013-40469-4], making the prediction of the robustness against changes in the topology-for example, caused by power outages or grid extensions-a challenging task. The impact of single-line additions on the long-range response of dc electricity grids has recently been studied [D. Labavić, R. Suciu, H. Meyer-Ortmanns, and S. Kettemann, Eur. Phys. J.: Spec. Top. 223, 2517 (2014)1951-635510.1140/epjst/e2014-02273-0]. By solving the real part of the static ac load flow equations, we conduct a similar investigation for ac grids. In a regular two-dimensional grid graph with cyclic boundary conditions, we find a power law decay for the change of power flow as a function of distance to the disturbance over a wide range of distances. The power exponent increases and saturates for large system sizes. By applying the same analysis to the German transmission grid topology, we show that also in real-world topologies a long-ranged response can be found.

When echolocating, dolphins typically emit a single broadband "click," then wait to receive the echo before emitting another click. However, previous studies have shown that during long-range echolocation tasks, they may instead emit a burst, or "packet," of several clicks, then wait for the packet of echoes to return before emitting another packet of clicks. The reasons for the use of packets are unknown. In this study, packet use was examined by having trained bottlenose dolphins perform long-range echolocation tasks. The tasks featured "phantom" echoes produced by capturing the dolphin's outgoing echolocation clicks, convolving the clicks with an impulse response to create an echo waveform, and then broadcasting the delayed, scaled echo to the dolphin. Dolphins were trained to report the presence of phantom echoes or a change in phantom echoes. Target range varied from 25 to 800 m. At ranges below 75 m, the dolphins rarely used packets. As the range increased beyond 75 m, two of the three dolphins increasingly produced packets, while the third dolphin instead utilized very high click repetition rates. The use of click packets appeared to be governed more by echo delay (target range) than echo amplitude.

We study the competition of disorder and superconductivity for a generalized Kitaev model in incommensurate potentials. The generalized Kitaev model describes one dimensional spinless fermions with long-range p-wave superconducting pairing, which decays with distance l as a power law ∼1/{{l}α} . We focus on the transition from the topological superconducting phase to the topologically trivial Anderson localized phase, and effects of the exponent α on this phase transition. In the topological superconducting phase, for a system under open boundary condition the amplitude of zero-mode Majorana fermion has a hybrid exponential-algebraic decay as the distance increases from the edge. In the Anderson localized phase, some single-particle states remain critical for very strong disorders and the number of critical states increases as α decreases. In addition, except for critical disorders, the correlation function always has an exponential decay at the short range and an algebraic decay at the longrange. Phase transition points are also numerically determined and the topological phase transition happens earlier at a smaller disorder strength for a system with smaller α.

Visibility is one of the key factors in determining the outcome of battles. With the advent of longrange, moving target, air to ground surveillance radars, the motion of both the observing platform and the target have added to the visibility problem, which heretofore was analyzed in terms of shielding. The interaction of such factors as the minimum detectable velocity of the target, the trajectories of the target and the airborne radar platform, and the terrain and foliage masking combine to control the amount of time which a target is observed in a given scenario. This report continues the work done on dynamic masking, compares the masking calculation with and without foliage on a typical super highway in New England, and finally examines the correlation between predicted and observed foliage and terrain masking. The work was done in connection with the test and evaluation of the Multiple Antenna Surveillance Radar (MASR), a scaled model of a longrange moving target surveillance system. MASR operated at L-band with a beamwidth of approximately 4.5 deg. In typical flight operation it observed the target complex from a range of 25 to 40 km. The altitude was selected to give lookdown angles ranging from 3 deg to 6 deg.

Local changes in the topology of electricity grids can cause overloads far away from the disturbance [D. Witthaut and M. Timme, Eur. Phys. J. B 86, 377 (2013), 10.1140/epjb/e2013-40469-4], making the prediction of the robustness against changes in the topology—for example, caused by power outages or grid extensions—a challenging task. The impact of single-line additions on the long-range response of dc electricity grids has recently been studied [D. Labavić, R. Suciu, H. Meyer-Ortmanns, and S. Kettemann, Eur. Phys. J.: Spec. Top. 223, 2517 (2014), 10.1140/epjst/e2014-02273-0]. By solving the real part of the static ac load flow equations, we conduct a similar investigation for ac grids. In a regular two-dimensional grid graph with cyclic boundary conditions, we find a power law decay for the change of power flow as a function of distance to the disturbance over a wide range of distances. The power exponent increases and saturates for large system sizes. By applying the same analysis to the German transmission grid topology, we show that also in real-world topologies a long-ranged response can be found.

We study the origin of phase transitions in several simplified models with long-range interactions. For the self-gravitating ring model, we are unable to observe a possible phase transition predicted by Nardini and Casetti [Phys. Rev. EPLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.80.060103 80, 060103R (2009).] from an energy landscape analysis. Instead we observe a sharp, although without any nonanalyticity, change from a core-halo to a core-only configuration in the spatial distribution functions for low energies. By introducing a different class of solvable simplified models without any critical points in the potential energy we show that a behavior similar to the thermodynamics of the ring model is obtained, with a first-order phase transition from an almost homogeneous high-energy phase to a clustered phase and the same core-halo to core configuration transition at lower energies. We discuss the origin of these features for the simplified models and show that the first-order phase transition comes from the maximization of the entropy of the system as a function of energy and an order parameter, as previously discussed by Hahn and Kastner [Phys. Rev. EPLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.72.056134 72, 056134 (2005); Eur. Phys. J. BEPJBFY1434-602810.1140/epjb/e2006-00100-7 50, 311 (2006)], which seems to be the main mechanism causing phase transitions in long-range interacting systems.

Local collision avoidance algorithms in crowd simulation often ignore agents beyond a neighborhood of a certain size. This cutoff can result in sharp changes in trajectory when large groups of agents enter or exit these neighborhoods. In this work, we exploit the insight that exact collision avoidance is not necessary between agents at such large distances, and propose a novel algorithm for extending existing collision avoidance algorithms to perform approximate, long-range collision avoidance. Our formulation performs long-range collision avoidance for distant agent groups to efficiently compute trajectories that are smoother than those obtained with state-of-the-art techniques and at faster rates. Comparison to real-world data demonstrates that crowds simulated with our algorithm exhibit an improved speed sensitivity to density similar to human crowds. Another issue often sidestepped in existing work is that discrete and continuum collision avoidance algorithms have different regions of applicability. For example, low-density crowds cannot be modeled as a continuum, while high-density crowds can be expensive to model using discrete methods. We formulate a hybrid technique for crowd simulation which can accurately and efficiently simulate crowds at any density with seamless transitions between continuum and discrete representations. Our approach blends results from continuum and discrete algorithms, based on local density and velocity variance. In addition to being robust across a variety of group scenarios, it is also highly efficient, running at interactive rates for thousands of agents on portable systems.

Local collision avoidance algorithms in crowd simulation often ignore agents beyond a neighborhood of a certain size. This cutoff can result in sharp changes in trajectory when large groups of agents enter or exit these neighborhoods. In this work, we exploit the insight that exact collision avoidance is not necessary between agents at such large distances, and propose a novel algorithm for extending existing collision avoidance algorithms to perform approximate, long-range collision avoidance. Our formulation performs long-range collision avoidance for distant agent groups to efficiently compute trajectories that are smoother than those obtained with state-of-the-art techniques and at faster rates. Another issue often sidestepped in existing work is that discrete and continuum collision avoidance algorithms have different regions of applicability. For example, low-density crowds cannot be modeled as a continuum, while high-density crowds can be expensive to model using discrete methods. We formulate a hybrid technique for crowd simulation which can accurately and efficiently simulate crowds at any density with seamless transitions between continuum and discrete representations. Our approach blends results from continuum and discrete algorithms, based on local density and velocity variance. In addition to being robust across a variety of group scenarios, it is also highly efficient, running at interactive rates for thousands of agents on portable systems.

The calculation of the surface tension of curved interfaces has been deeply investigated from molecular simulation during this last past decade. Recently, the thermodynamic Test-Area (TA) approach has been extended to the calculation of surface tension of curved interfaces. In the case of the cylindrical vapour-liquid interfaces of water and Lennard-Jones fluids, it was shown that the surface tension was independent of the curvature of the interface. In addition, the surface tension of the cylindrical interface is higher than that of the planar interface. Molecular simulations of cylindrical interfaces have been so far performed (i) by using a shifted potential, (ii) by means of large cutoff without periodic boundary conditions, or (iii) by ignoring the longrange corrections to the surface tension due to the difficulty to estimate them. Indeed, unlike the planar interfaces there are no available operational expressions to consider the tail corrections to the surface tension of cylindrical interfaces. We propose here to develop the longrange corrections of the surface tension for cylindrical interfaces by using the non-exponential TA (TA2) method. We also extend the formulation of the Mecke-Winkelmann corrections initially developed for planar surfaces to cylindrical interfaces. We complete this study by the calculation of the surface tension of cylindrical surfaces of liquid tin and copper using the embedded atom model potentials.

Considering polaron model, we have calculated an electron state localized in the protein heme. Using these calculations: the electron density and electron energy, we estimated the self-exchange rate constant for cyt c (horse heart), its reorganization energy, matrix element, and dependence of this rate on the distance between hemes. The results are compared with the experimental data and other theoretical estimations. We discuss the role of polaron excitations in the long-range electron transfer in globular proteins.

The electricity system price of the Nord Pool spot market is analysed. Different time scale analysis tools are assessed with focus on the Hurst exponent and longrange correlations. Daily and weekly periodicities of the spot market are identified. Even though space time separation plots suggest more stationary behaviour than other financial time series, we find large fluctuations of the spot price market which suggest time-dependent scaling parameters.

In animal cells, microtubule and actin tracks and their associated motors (dynein, kinesin, and myosin) are thought to regulate long- and short-range transport, respectively. Consistent with this, microtubules extend from the perinuclear centrosome to the plasma membrane and allow bidirectional cargo transport over long distances (>1 μm). In contrast, actin often comprises a complex network of short randomly oriented filaments, suggesting that myosin motors move cargo short distances. These observations underpin the "highways and local roads" model for transport along microtubule and actin tracks. The "cooperative capture" model exemplifies this view and suggests that melanosome distribution in melanocyte dendrites is maintained by long-range transport on microtubules followed by actin/myosin-Va-dependent tethering. In this study, we used cell normalization technology to quantitatively examine the contribution of microtubules and actin/myosin-Va to organelle distribution in melanocytes. Surprisingly, our results indicate that microtubules are essential for centripetal, but not centrifugal, transport. Instead, we find that microtubules retard a centrifugal transport process that is dependent on myosin-Va and a population of dynamic F-actin. Functional analysis of mutant proteins indicates that myosin-Va works as a transporter dispersing melanosomes along actin tracks whose +/barbed ends are oriented toward the plasma membrane. Overall, our data highlight the role of myosin-Va and actin in transport, and not tethering, and suggest a new model in which organelle distribution is determined by the balance between microtubule-dependent centripetal and myosin-Va/actin-dependent centrifugal transport. These observations appear to be consistent with evidence coming from other systems showing that actin/myosin networks can drive long-distance organelle transport and positioning.

Summary In animal cells, microtubule and actin tracks and their associated motors (dynein, kinesin, and myosin) are thought to regulate long- and short-range transport, respectively [1–8]. Consistent with this, microtubules extend from the perinuclear centrosome to the plasma membrane and allow bidirectional cargo transport over long distances (>1 μm). In contrast, actin often comprises a complex network of short randomly oriented filaments, suggesting that myosin motors move cargo short distances. These observations underpin the “highways and local roads” model for transport along microtubule and actin tracks [2]. The “cooperative capture” model exemplifies this view and suggests that melanosome distribution in melanocyte dendrites is maintained by long-range transport on microtubules followed by actin/myosin-Va-dependent tethering [5, 9]. In this study, we used cell normalization technology to quantitatively examine the contribution of microtubules and actin/myosin-Va to organelle distribution in melanocytes. Surprisingly, our results indicate that microtubules are essential for centripetal, but not centrifugal, transport. Instead, we find that microtubules retard a centrifugal transport process that is dependent on myosin-Va and a population of dynamic F-actin. Functional analysis of mutant proteins indicates that myosin-Va works as a transporter dispersing melanosomes along actin tracks whose +/barbed ends are oriented toward the plasma membrane. Overall, our data highlight the role of myosin-Va and actin in transport, and not tethering, and suggest a new model in which organelle distribution is determined by the balance between microtubule-dependent centripetal and myosin-Va/actin-dependent centrifugal transport. These observations appear to be consistent with evidence coming from other systems showing that actin/myosin networks can drive long-distance organelle transport and positioning [10, 11]. PMID:25065759

Recently Pantala flavescens (dragonflies) have been reported to migrate in millions from India to Eastern Africa on a multigenerational migratory circuit of length 14000-18000 kms. We attempt to understand the ability of dragonflies to perform longrange migration by examining the energetics using computer simulations. In absence of a theory for longrange insect migrations, we resort to the extensive literature on longrange bird migration from the energetics perspective. The flight energetics depends upon instantaneous power and velocity. The mechanical flight power is computed from the power curve which is then converted to mass depletion using Brequet's equation. However, the mechanical flight power itself depends upon the instantaneous velocity which can vary depending upon the current mass. In order to predict the range in our simulations, we assume that the insect progressively tries to achieve the maximum range velocity. The results indicate that the migration range is approximately 1260 kms in 70 hours based on the true airspeed. However, our analysis is restricted by the lack of data and certain caveats in drag prediction and basal metabolism rate.

Mutually exclusive splicing is an important means of increasing the protein repertoire, by which the Down's syndrome cell adhesion molecule (Dscam) gene potentially generates 38,016 different isoforms in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the regulatory mechanisms remain obscure due to the complexity of the Dscam exon cluster. Here, we reveal a molecular model for the regulation of the mutually exclusive splicing of the serpent pre-mRNA based on competition between upstream and downstream RNA pairings. Such dual RNA pairings confer fine tuning of the inclusion of alternative exons. Moreover, we demonstrate that the splicing outcome of alternative exons is mediated in relative pairing strength-correlated mode. Combined comparative genomics analysis and experimental evidence revealed similar bidirectional structural architectures in exon clusters 4 and 9 of the Dscam gene. Our findings provide a novel mechanistic framework for the regulation of mutually exclusive splicing and may offer potentially applicable insights into long-range RNA-RNA interactions in gene regulatory networks.

Incorporation of a solid-state gain medium in the cladding of a LongRange Surface Plasmon Polariton (LRSPP) waveguide in order to create a single-mode near-infrared laser source is proposed. LRSPP Bragg gratings based on stepping the width of the metal strip are used to form the laser's cavity. Three laser configurations are presented: The first 2 lasers employ DBRs (Distributed Bragg Reflectors) in ECL (External Cavity Laser) architecture while the third is based on the DFB (Distributed Feedback) configuration. All 3 configurations are thermally tunable by heating the gratings directly by injecting current. The lasers are convenient to fabricate leading to inexpensive sources that could be used in optical integrated circuits or waveguide biosensors.

Recent experiments suggest that protons can travel along biological membranes up to tens of micrometers, but the mechanism of transport is unknown. To explain such a long-range proton translocation we describe a model that takes into account the coupled bulk diffusion that accompanies the migration of protons on the surface. We show that protons diffusing at or near the surface before equilibrating with the bulk desorb and re-adsorb at the surface thousands of times, giving rise to a power-law desorption kinetics. As a result, the decay of the surface protons occurs very slowly, allowing for establishing local gradient and local exchange, as was envisioned in the early local models of biological energy transduction.

The complexity of human interactions with social and natural phenomena is mirrored in the way we describe our experiences through natural language. In order to retain and convey such a high dimensional information, the statistical properties of our linguistic output has to be highly correlated in time. An example are the robust observations, still largely not understood, of correlations on arbitrary long scales in literary texts. In this paper we explain how long-range correlations flow from highly structured linguistic levels down to the building blocks of a text (words, letters, etc..). By combining calculations and data analysis we show that correlations take form of a bursty sequence of events once we approach the semantically relevant topics of the text. The mechanisms we identify are fairly general and can be equally applied to other hierarchical settings.

This paper presents results of an improved inductive wireless power transfer system for reliable longrange powering of sensors with milliwatt-level consumption. An ultra-low power flyback impedance emulator operating in open loop is used to present the optimal load to the receiver's resonant tank. Transmitter power modulation is implemented in order to maintain constant receiver power and to prevent damage to the receiver electronics caused by excessive received voltage. Received power is steady up to 3 m at around 30 mW. The receiver electronics and feedback system consumes 3.1 mW and so with a transmitter input power of 163.3 W the receiver becomes power neutral at 4.75 m. Such an IPT system can provide a reliable alternative to energy harvesters for supplying power concurrently to multiple remote sensors.

We investigate the existence and propagation of solitons in a long-range extension of the quartic Fermi–Pasta–Ulam (FPU) chain of anharmonic oscillators. The coupling in the linear term decays as a power-law with an exponent 1

Electric fields are known to favor long-range polar order through the aligning of electric dipoles in relation to Coulomb's force. Therefore, it would be surprising to observe a disordered polar state induced from an ordered state by electric fields. Here we show such an unusual phenomenon in a polycrystalline oxide where electric fields induce a ferroelectric-to-relaxor phase transition. The nonergodic relaxor phase with disordered dipoles appears as an intermediate state under electric fields during polarization reversal of the ferroelectric phase. Using the phenomenological theory, the underlying mechanism for this unexpected behavior can be attributed to the slow kinetics of the ferroelectric-to-relaxor phase transition, as well as its competition against domain switching during electric reversal. The demonstrated material could also serve as a model system to study the transient stages in first-order phase transitions; the slow kinetics does not require the use of sophisticated ultrafast tools.

We use quasiclassical methods of superconductivity to study the superconducting proximity effect from a topological p -wave superconductor into a disordered quasi-one-dimensional metallic wire. We demonstrate that the corresponding Eilenberger equations with disorder reduce to a closed nonlinear equation for the superconducting component of the matrix Green's function. Remarkably, this equation is formally equivalent to a classical mechanical system (i.e., Newton's equations), with the Green function corresponding to a coordinate of a fictitious particle and the coordinate along the wire corresponding to time. This mapping allows us to obtain exact solutions in the disordered nanowire in terms of elliptic functions. A surprising result that comes out of this solution is that the p -wave superconductivity proximity induced into the disordered metal remains longrange, decaying as slowly as the conventional s -wave superconductivity. It is also shown that impurity scattering leads to the appearance of a zero-energy peak.

We present a method of parallelizing the stochastic cutoff (SCO) method, which is a Monte-Carlo method for long-range interacting systems. After interactions are eliminated by the SCO method, we subdivide a lattice into noninteracting interpenetrating sublattices. This subdivision enables us to parallelize the Monte-Carlo calculation in the SCO method. Such subdivision is found by numerically solving the vertex coloring of a graph created by the SCO method. We use an algorithm proposed by Kuhn and Wattenhofer to solve the vertex coloring by parallel computation. This method was applied to a two-dimensional magnetic dipolar system on an L × L square lattice to examine its parallelization efficiency. The result showed that, in the case of L = 2304, the speed of computation increased about 102 times by parallel computation with 288 processors.

An efficient algorithm for the computation of correlation function (CF) at very long distances is presented for quantum systems whose Hamiltonian is formed by the substitution aperiodic sequence alternating over unit intervals in time or space. The algorithm reorganizes the expression of the CF in such a way that the evaluation of the CF at distances equal to some special numbers is related to a family of graphs generated recursively. As examples of applications, we evaluate the CF, over unprecedentedly long time intervals up to order of 1012, for aperiodic two-level systems subject to kicking perturbations that are in the Thue-Morse, the period-doubling, and the Rudin-Shapiro sequences, respectively. Our results show the presence of long-range correlations in all these aperiodic quantum systems.

By analyzing the factors of laser transmission from long-range jammer to CCD in the distribution of laser at the entrance of optical system of CCD, an evaluation methodology was established which utilized the ATP error data and the distribution of laser through turbulent atmosphere together and could get the jamming probability which could be used to get evaluation result. A conversion method was devised to convert test data to simulation data of ATP. Based on circular aperture Fraunhofer diffraction theory, a simplified model that only used the central bright patch was provided to convert the relationship between the number of saturated pixel and the incident laser energy by testing to the relationship in simulation. Some advice was given for the usage of test data of ATP and the relationship between the number of saturated pixel and the incident laser energy by testing to make sure that the data is available.

Scaling behaviors of the global monthly sea surface temperature (SST) derived from 1870–2009 average monthly data sets of Hadley Centre Sea Ice and SST (HadISST) are investigated employing detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The global SST fluctuations are found to be strong positively long-range correlated at all pertinent time-intervals. The value of scaling exponent is larger in the tropics than those in the intermediate latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres. DFA leads to the scaling exponent α = 0.87 over the globe (60°S~60°N), northern hemisphere (0°N~60°N), and southern hemisphere (0°S~60°S), α = 0.84 over the intermediate latitude of southern hemisphere (30°S~60°S), α = 0.81 over the intermediate latitude of northern hemisphere (30°N~60°N) and α = 0.90 over the tropics 30°S~30°N [fluctuation F(s) ~ sα], which the fluctuations of monthly SST anomaly display long-term correlated behaviors. Furthermore, the larger the standard deviation is, the smaller long-range correlations (LRCs) of SST in the corresponding regions, especially in three distinct upwelling areas. After the standard deviation is taken into account, an index χ = α * σ is introduced to obtain the spatial distributions of χ. There exists an obvious change of global SST in central east and northern Pacific and the northwest Atlantic. This may be as a clue on predictability of climate and ocean variabilities. PMID:27100397

Scaling behaviors of the global monthly sea surface temperature (SST) derived from 1870-2009 average monthly data sets of Hadley Centre Sea Ice and SST (HadISST) are investigated employing detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA). The global SST fluctuations are found to be strong positively long-range correlated at all pertinent time-intervals. The value of scaling exponent is larger in the tropics than those in the intermediate latitudes of the northern and southern hemispheres. DFA leads to the scaling exponent α = 0.87 over the globe (60°S~60°N), northern hemisphere (0°N~60°N), and southern hemisphere (0°S~60°S), α = 0.84 over the intermediate latitude of southern hemisphere (30°S~60°S), α = 0.81 over the intermediate latitude of northern hemisphere (30°N~60°N) and α = 0.90 over the tropics 30°S~30°N [fluctuation F(s) ~ sα], which the fluctuations of monthly SST anomaly display long-term correlated behaviors. Furthermore, the larger the standard deviation is, the smaller long-range correlations (LRCs) of SST in the corresponding regions, especially in three distinct upwelling areas. After the standard deviation is taken into account, an index χ = α * σ is introduced to obtain the spatial distributions of χ. There exists an obvious change of global SST in central east and northern Pacific and the northwest Atlantic. This may be as a clue on predictability of climate and ocean variabilities.

The thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) riboswitch is a cis-regulatory element in mRNA that modifies gene expression in response to TPP concentration. Its specificity is dependent upon conformational changes that take place within its aptamer domain. Here, the role of tertiary interactions in ligand binding was studied at the single-molecule level by combined force spectroscopy and Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET), using an optical trap equipped for simultaneous smFRET. The ‘Force-FRET’ approach directly probes secondary and tertiary structural changes during folding, including events associated with binding. Concurrent transitions observed in smFRET signals and RNA extension revealed differences in helix-arm orientation between two previously-identified ligand-binding states that had been undetectable by spectroscopy alone. Our results show that the weaker binding state is able to bind to TPP, but is unable to form a tertiary docking interaction that completes the binding process. Long-range tertiary interactions stabilize global riboswitch structure and confer increased ligand specificity. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.12362.001 PMID:26709838

We theoretically investigate the effect of long-range dipole-dipole interaction (LRDDI) on a superradiant laser (SL). This effect is induced from the atom-photon interaction in the dissipation process. In the bad-cavity limit usually performed to initiate SL, we demonstrate that cavity photon number oscillates as an interparticle distance of the atoms varies. Similarly the atom-atom coherence alternates with signs, showing critical transitions alternatively in SL operations. This suggests a complexity of the collective effect emerging in a large ensemble of atoms. Therefore this effect in a SL cannot be simply interpreted by only a part of the whole ensemble. We numerically solve for a steady-state SL including the spatially dependent LRDDI, and locate the maximal cavity photon number and the minimal spectral linewidth respectively at the optimal atomic separations in the setting of an equidistant atomic array. The scaling of a finite number of atoms shows that a steady-state SL outperforms the one without LRDDI, which allows for probing narrow atomic transitions and is potentially useful for precision measurements and next-generation optical clocks.

Ground- and excited-state long-range prototropic tautomerization were studied for a series of 7-hydroxyquinoline-8-carbaldehydes (7-HQCs) by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, photostationary and time-resolved UV-vis spectroscopic methods, and quantum chemical computations. These molecules represent trifunctional proton-donating/accepting systems that have been proposed to serve as models of a reversible optically driven molecular switch composed of two moieties: a molecular "frame" (7-hydroquinolines, 7-HQs) and a proton "crane" (carbaldehyde group). The NMR and electronic absorption spectra indicate a solvent-dependent equilibrium between two tautomeric forms, OH (7-quinolinol)) and NH (7(1H)-quinolinone), already in the ground state of all the compounds under study (7-hydroxy-2-methoxy-4-methylquinoline-8-carbaldehyde, HMMQC, shows only a trace of the NH form in highly polar and/or protic media). Electronic absorption and fluorescence of 7-HQCs are rationalized in terms of the ground- and excited-state hydrogen atom transfer (HAT). This process was identified by comparing the UV-vis spectroscopic properties of 7-HQCs with those of 7-HQs, synthetic precursors of the former, as well as with the characteristics of corresponding protonated cations and deprotonated anions (part 2). The experimental results are corroborated by the density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio computations, which shed some light on the differences in photophysics between variously substituted 7-HQCs.

The discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation with competing short-range and long-range interactions is considered in spatial dimensions d> or =2. This model equation is derived for a situation of two linearly coupled excitations (independently of dimension), and we analytically and numerically study its properties in 2+1 dimensions. We analyze theoretically and demonstrate numerically the dependence of the discrete breather solutions on the amplitude and range of the interactions. We find that complete suppression of the existence thresholds obtained recently for short-range interactions can be achieved beyond a critical value of the amplitude or of the range of the long-range kernel. For supercritical values of the corresponding parameters, staggered branches of solutions are obtained both in theory as well as in the numerical experiment.

Dispersal mechanisms play a main role in the dynamics of infection spread. Recent experimental results with in vitro infections of foot-and-mouth disease virus reveal that the time needed for the virus to kill a cellular monolayer depends qualitatively on the number of viral particles required to initiate infection in a susceptible cell. A two-dimensional susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) model based on the experimental setting agrees with the observations only when viral particles are subject to long-range transport. Numerical and analytical results show that this long-range transport plays a role when a single particle causes infection, while it is inefficient when complementation between two or more particles is necessary.

Poly(styrene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (SEO) mixed with lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) salt is a promising material for battery electrolytes due to its high ionic conductivity and ability to suppress lithium dendrite growth. Ion conduction has been found to depend on many aspects of the electrolyte microstructure, including the morphology and degree of ordering. The effect of longrange order on ionic conductivity was investigated in a lamellar SEO/LiTFSI mixture by in situ small angle x-ray scattering and ac impedance spectroscopy during polymer annealing. The observation that increasing longrange order decreases ionic conductivity indicates that disorder, due to small grain size or defects, enhances the ionic conductivity of the electrolyte.

Enzymatic oxidation of cell wall polysaccharides by lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) plays a pivotal role in the degradation of plant biomass. While experiments have shown that LPMOs are copper dependent enzymes requiring an electron donor, the mechanism and origin of the electron supply in biological systems are only partly understood. We show here that insoluble high molecular weight lignin functions as a reservoir of electrons facilitating LPMO activity. The electrons are donated to the enzyme by long-range electron transfer involving soluble low molecular weight lignins present in plant cell walls. Electron transfer was confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy showing that LPMO activity on cellulose changes the level of unpaired electrons in the lignin. The discovery of a long-range electron transfer mechanism links the biodegradation of cellulose and lignin and sheds new light on how oxidative enzymes present in plant degraders may act in concert. PMID:26686263

Enzymatic oxidation of cell wall polysaccharides by lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) plays a pivotal role in the degradation of plant biomass. While experiments have shown that LPMOs are copper dependent enzymes requiring an electron donor, the mechanism and origin of the electron supply in biological systems are only partly understood. We show here that insoluble high molecular weight lignin functions as a reservoir of electrons facilitating LPMO activity. The electrons are donated to the enzyme by long-range electron transfer involving soluble low molecular weight lignins present in plant cell walls. Electron transfer was confirmed by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy showing that LPMO activity on cellulose changes the level of unpaired electrons in the lignin. The discovery of a long-range electron transfer mechanism links the biodegradation of cellulose and lignin and sheds new light on how oxidative enzymes present in plant degraders may act in concert.

Some of the most challenging and interesting problems in nature involve large numbers of objects or particles mutually interacting through long-range forces. Examples range from galaxies and plasmas to flocks of birds and traffic flow on a highway. Even in cases where the form of the interacting force is precisely known, such as the 1/ r2-dependent Coulomb and gravitational forces, such problems present a formidable theoretical and modeling challenge for large numbers of interacting bodies. This paper reports on a newly constructed, scaled particle accelerator that will serve as an experimental testbed for the dynamics of swarms interacting through long-range forces. Primarily designed for intense beam dynamics studies for advanced accelerators, the University of Maryland Electron Ring (UMER) design is described in detail and an update on commissioning is provided. An example application to a system other than a charged particle beam is discussed.

Aerosols form cloud droplets and ice crystals in clouds and can profoundly impact precipitation processes. In-situ aircraft measurements of the composition of individual cloud residuals have been used to study the impact of different aerosol sources including sea spray, dust, soot, and biomass burning on cloud microphysics and precipitation processes. Aircraft studies in 2011 as part of the CalWater project showed that longrange transport of dust aerosols from as far away as Africa and biological particles can lead to an increase in the amount of snowfall over California. This presentation will describe results from CalWater-2015 involving aircraft and ground-based measurements at a coastal site. A discussion of the aerosol sources measured in clouds will be presented detailing the relative impacts of local versus longrange transported pollution aerosols over California.

This study evaluated whether pilot fatigue was greater on ultra-longrange (ULR) trips (flights >16 h on 10% of trips in a 90-day period) than on longrange (LR) trips. The within-subjects design controlled for crew complement, pattern of in-flight breaks, flight direction and departure time. Thirty male Captains (mean age = 54.5 years) and 40 male First officers (mean age = 48.0 years) were monitored on commercial passenger flights (Boeing 777 aircraft). Sleep was monitored (actigraphy, duty/sleep diaries) from 3 days before the first study trip to 3 days after the second study trip. Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, Samn-Perelli fatigue ratings and a 5-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task were completed before, during and after every flight. Total sleep in the 24 h before outbound flights and before inbound flights after 2-day layovers was comparable for ULR and LR flights. All pilots slept on all flights. For each additional hour of flight time, they obtained an estimated additional 12.3 min of sleep. Estimated mean total sleep was longer on ULR flights (3 h 53 min) than LR flights (3 h 15 min; P(F) = 0.0004). Sleepiness ratings were lower and mean reaction speed was faster at the end of ULR flights. Findings suggest that additional in-flight sleep mitigated fatigue effectively on longer flights. Further research is needed to clarify the contributions to fatigue of in-flight sleep versus time awake at top of descent. The study design was limited to eastward outbound flights with two Captains and two First Officers. Caution must be exercised when extrapolating to different operations.

Almost five decades ago, H. Fröhlich [H. Fröhlich, "Long-range coherence and energy storage in biological systems," Int. J. Quantum Chem. 2(5), 641-649 (1968)] reported, on a theoretical basis, that the excitation of quantum modes of vibration in contact with a thermal reservoir may lead to steady states, where under high enough rate of energy supply, only specific low-frequency modes of vibration are strongly excited. This nonlinear phenomenon was predicted to occur in biomolecular systems, which are known to exhibit complex vibrational spectral properties, especially in the terahertz frequency domain. However, since the effects of terahertz or lower-frequency modes are mainly classical at physiological temperatures, there are serious doubts that Fröhlich's quantum description can be applied to predict such a coherent behavior in a biological environment, as suggested by the author. In addition, a quantum formalism makes the phenomenon hard to investigate using realistic molecular dynamics simulations (MD) as they are usually based on the classical principles. In the current paper, we provide a general classical Hamiltonian description of a nonlinear open system composed of many degrees of freedom (biomolecular structure) excited by an external energy source. It is shown that a coherent behaviour similar to Fröhlich's effect is to be expected in the classical case for a given range of parameter values. Thus, the supplied energy is not completely thermalized but stored in a highly ordered fashion. The connection between our Hamiltonian description, carried out in the space of normal modes, and a more standard treatment in the physical space is emphasized in order to facilitate the prediction of the effect from MD simulations. It is shown how such a coherent phenomenon may induce long-range resonance effects that could be of critical importance at the biomolecular level. The present work is motivated by recent experimental evidences of long-lived excited low

Almost five decades ago, H. Fröhlich [H. Fröhlich, "Long-range coherence and energy storage in biological systems," Int. J. Quantum Chem. 2(5), 641-649 (1968)] reported, on a theoretical basis, that the excitation of quantum modes of vibration in contact with a thermal reservoir may lead to steady states, where under high enough rate of energy supply, only specific low-frequency modes of vibration are strongly excited. This nonlinear phenomenon was predicted to occur in biomolecular systems, which are known to exhibit complex vibrational spectral properties, especially in the terahertz frequency domain. However, since the effects of terahertz or lower-frequency modes are mainly classical at physiological temperatures, there are serious doubts that Fröhlich's quantum description can be applied to predict such a coherent behavior in a biological environment, as suggested by the author. In addition, a quantum formalism makes the phenomenon hard to investigate using realistic molecular dynamics simulations (MD) as they are usually based on the classical principles. In the current paper, we provide a general classical Hamiltonian description of a nonlinear open system composed of many degrees of freedom (biomolecular structure) excited by an external energy source. It is shown that a coherent behaviour similar to Fröhlich's effect is to be expected in the classical case for a given range of parameter values. Thus, the supplied energy is not completely thermalized but stored in a highly ordered fashion. The connection between our Hamiltonian description, carried out in the space of normal modes, and a more standard treatment in the physical space is emphasized in order to facilitate the prediction of the effect from MD simulations. It is shown how such a coherent phenomenon may induce long-range resonance effects that could be of critical importance at the biomolecular level. The present work is motivated by recent experimental evidences of long-lived excited low

Magnetic interactions in solids are normally mediated by short-range exchange or weak dipole fields. Here we report a magnetic interaction that can propagate over long distances (∼10 nm) across a polar insulating oxide spacer. Evidence includes oscillations of magnetization, coercivity and field-cooled loop shift with the thickness of LaAlO3 in La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures. Similar modifications of the hysteresis loop appear when two coupled films of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 are separated by LaAlO3, or another polar insulator, but they are absent when the oxide spacer layer is nonpolar. The loop shift is attributed to strong spin-orbit coupling and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction at the interfaces. There is evidence from inelastic light scattering that the polar spacer mediates long-range transmission of orbital magnetization. This coupling mechanism is expected to apply for any conducting ferromagnetic oxide with mixed valence; in view of electron hopping frequency involved, it raises the prospect of terahertz tunability of magnetic coupling.

We investigate the long-range, two-body interactions between rubidium and potassium atoms in highly excited (n =70 ) Rydberg states. After establishing properly symmetrized asymptotic basis states, we diagonalize an interaction Hamiltonian consisting of the standard Coulombic potential expansion and atomic fine structure to calculate electronic potential energy curves. We find that when both atoms are excited to either the 70 s state or the 70 p state, both the Ω =0+ symmetry interactions and the Ω =0- symmetry interactions demonstrate a deep potential well capable of supporting many bound levels; the sizes of the corresponding dimer states are of the order of 2.25 μ m . We establish n -scaling relations for the equilibrium separation Re and the dissociation energy De and find these relations to be consistent with similar calculations involving the homonuclear interactions between rubidium and cesium. We discuss the specific effects of ℓ mixing and the exact composition of the calculated potential well via the expansion coefficients of the asymptotic basis states. Finally, we apply a Landau-Zener treatment to show that the dimer states are stable with respect to predissociation.

We have developed a model for the secondary structure of the 1058-nucleotide plus-strand RNA genome of the icosahedral satellite tobacco mosaic virus (STMV) using nucleotide-resolution SHAPE chemical probing of the viral RNA isolated from virions and within the virion, perturbation of interactions distant in the primary sequence, and atomic force microscopy. These data are consistent with long-range base pairing interactions and a three-domain genome architecture. The compact domains of the STMV RNA have dimensions of 10 to 45 nm. Each of the three domains corresponds to a specific functional component of the virus: The central domain corresponds to the coding sequence of the single (capsid) protein encoded by the virus, whereas the 5′ and 3′ untranslated domains span signals essential for translation and replication, respectively. This three-domain architecture is compatible with interactions between the capsid protein and short RNA helices previously visualized by crystallography. STMV is among the simplest of the icosahedral viruses but, nonetheless, has an RNA genome with a complex higher-order structure that likely reflects high information content and an evolutionary relationship between RNA domain structure and essential replicative functions. PMID:23614526

Functional residues in proteins tend to be highly conserved over evolutionary time. However, to what extent functional sites impose evolutionary constraints on nearby or even more distant residues is not known. Here, we report pervasive conservation gradients toward catalytic residues in a dataset of 524 distinct enzymes: evolutionary conservation decreases approximately linearly with increasing distance to the nearest catalytic residue in the protein structure. This trend encompasses, on average, 80% of the residues in any enzyme, and it is independent of known structural constraints on protein evolution such as residue packing or solvent accessibility. Further, the trend exists in both monomeric and multimeric enzymes and irrespective of enzyme size and/or location of the active site in the enzyme structure. By contrast, sites in protein–protein interfaces, unlike catalytic residues, are only weakly conserved and induce only minor rate gradients. In aggregate, these observations show that functional sites, and in particular catalytic residues, induce long-range evolutionary constraints in enzymes. PMID:27138088

The lifetimes of the lower-lying vibrational states of ultra-long-range strontium Rydberg molecules comprising one ground-state 5 s2 1S0 atom and one Rydberg atom in the 5 s 38 s 3S1 state are reported. The molecules are created in an ultracold gas held in an optical dipole trap and their numbers determined using field ionization, the product electrons being detected by a microchannel plate. The measurements show that, in marked contrast to earlier measurements involving rubidium Rydberg molecules, the lifetimes of the low-lying molecular vibrational states are very similar to those of the parent Rydberg atoms. This results because the strong p -wave resonance in low-energy electron-rubidium scattering, which strongly influences the rubidium molecular lifetimes, is not present for strontium. The absence of this resonance offers advantages for experiments involving strontium Rydberg atoms as impurities in quantum gases and for testing of theories of molecular formation and decay.

We have established experimentally that when biological cells, for example, blood, are suspended in concentrated solutions of inorganic electrolytes (for instance, in a 15% solution of sodium chloride) then around some cells (leucocytes, especially tumour cells) there form haloes, i.e., circular spaces free from background cells (erythrocytes, yeast cells, colloidal particles of Indian ink). In the medium made up of erythrocytes the haloes form during 5-10 min as a result of the background cells drawing apart from the central halo-forming cell (HFC) at a distance of 10-100 μm and more. In the medium made of the Indian ink particles, the haloes form during 2-4 s and attain a thickness of about 10-20 μm. The erythrocytes and the haloes forming in their medium can be preserved for about three to five days at room temperature. It has been established that, when tumour HFCs are present at sufficient concentrations, they form hexagonal periodic structures having a mean spacing between cells of up to 60 μm. The authors put forward as one probable suggestion that the formation of haloes is largely determined by long-range repulsive forces arising from the phenomenon of diffusiophoresis generated by the diffusion currents that emerge from the surface of halo-forming cells.

The LOng-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) is the high-resolution imaging instrument for the New Horizons mission to Pluto, its giant satellite Charon, its small moons Nix and Hydra, and the Kuiper Belt, which is the vast region of icy bodies extending roughly from Neptune’s orbit out to 50 astronomical units (AU). New Horizons launched on January 19, 2006, as the inaugural mission in NASA’s New Frontiers program. LORRI is a narrow-angle (field of view=0.29°), high-resolution (4.95 μrad pixels), Ritchey-Chrétien telescope with a 20.8-cm diameter primary mirror, a focal length of 263 cm, and a three-lens, field-flattening assembly. A 1,024×1,024 pixel (optically active region), thinned, backside-illuminated charge-coupled device (CCD) detector is used in the focal plane unit and is operated in frame-transfer mode. LORRI provides panchromatic imaging over a bandpass that extends approximately from 350 nm to 850 nm. LORRI operates in an extreme thermal environment, situated inside the warm spacecraft with a large, open aperture viewing cold space. LORRI has a silicon carbide optical system, designed to maintain focus over the operating temperature range without a focus adjustment mechanism. Moreover, the spacecraft is thruster-stabilized without reaction wheels, placing stringent limits on the available exposure time and the optical throughput needed to satisfy the measurement requirements.

The recoil of adsorbates away (desorption) and towards (reaction) surfaces is well known. Here, we describe the long-range recoil of adsorbates in the plane of a surface, and accordingly the novel phenomenon of reactions occurring at a substantial distance from the originating event. Three thermal and three electron-induced surface reactions are shown by scanning tunnelling microscopy to propel their physisorbed ethylenic products across the rough surface of Si(100) over a distance of up to 200 Å before an attachment reaction. The recoil energy in the ethylenic products comes from thermal exoergicity or from electronic excitation of chemisorbed alkenes. We propose that the mechanism of migration is a rolling motion, because the recoiling molecule overcomes raised surface obstacles. Electronic excitation of propene causes directional recoil and often end-to-end inversion, suggesting cartwheeling. Ab initio calculations of the halogenation and electron-induced reactions support a model in which asymmetric forces between the molecule and the surface induce rotation and therefore migration.

Imagine that a metallic wire is attached to a part of a large insulator, which itself exhibits no magnetization. It seems impossible for electrons in the wire to register where the wire is positioned on the insulator. Here we found that, using a Ni₈₁Fe₁₉/Pt bilayer wire on an insulating sapphire plate, electrons in the wire recognize their position on the sapphire. Under a temperature gradient in the sapphire, surprisingly, the voltage generated in the Pt layer is shown to reflect the wire position, although the wire is isolated both electrically and magnetically. This non-local voltage is due to the coupling of spins and phonons: the only possible carrier of information in this system. We demonstrate this coupling by directly injecting sound waves, which realizes the acoustic spin pumping. Our finding provides a persuasive answer to the long-range nature of the spin Seebeck effect, and it opens the door to 'acoustic spintronics' in which sound waves are exploited for constructing spin-based devices.

We present a higher order kinetic Monte Carlo methodology suitable to model the evolution of systems in which the transition rates are non- trivial to calculate or in which Monte Carlo moves are likely to be non- productive flicker events. The second order residence time algorithm first introduced by Athenes et al.[1] is rederived from the n-fold way algorithm of Bortz et al.[2] as a fully stochastic algorithm. The second order algorithm can be dynamically called when necessary to eliminate unproductive flickering between a metastable state and its neighbors. An algorithm combining elements of the first order and second order methods is shown to be more efficient, in terms of the number of rate calculations, than the first order or second order methods alone while remaining statistically identical. This efficiency is of prime importance when dealing with computationally expensive rate functions such as those arising from long- range Hamiltonians. Our algorithm has been developed for use when considering simulations of vacancy diffusion under the influence of elastic stress fields. We demonstrate the improved efficiency of the method over that of the n-fold way in simulations of vacancy diffusion in alloys. Our algorithm is seen to be an order of magnitude more efficient than the n-fold way in these simulations. We show that when magnesium is added to an Al-2at.%Cu alloy, this has the effect of trapping vacancies. When trapping occurs, we see that our algorithm performs thousands of events for each rate calculation performed.

Completely open systems can exchange heat, work, and matter with the environment. While energy, volume, and number of particles fluctuate under completely open conditions, the equilibrium states of the system, if they exist, can be specified using the temperature, pressure, and chemical potential as control parameters. The unconstrained ensemble is the statistical ensemble describing completely open systems and the replica energy is the appropriate free energy for these control parameters from which the thermodynamics must be derived. It turns out that macroscopic systems with short-range interactions cannot attain equilibrium configurations in the unconstrained ensemble, since temperature, pressure, and chemical potential cannot be taken as a set of independent variables in this case. In contrast, we show that systems with long-range interactions can reach states of thermodynamic equilibrium in the unconstrained ensemble. To illustrate this fact, we consider a modification of the Thirring model and compare the unconstrained ensemble with the canonical and grand-canonical ones: The more the ensemble is constrained by fixing the volume or number of particles, the larger the space of parameters defining the equilibrium configurations.

Magnetic interactions in solids are normally mediated by short-range exchange or weak dipole fields. Here we report a magnetic interaction that can propagate over long distances (∼10 nm) across a polar insulating oxide spacer. Evidence includes oscillations of magnetization, coercivity and field-cooled loop shift with the thickness of LaAlO3 in La0.67Sr0.33MnO3/LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures. Similar modifications of the hysteresis loop appear when two coupled films of La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 are separated by LaAlO3, or another polar insulator, but they are absent when the oxide spacer layer is nonpolar. The loop shift is attributed to strong spin–orbit coupling and Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction at the interfaces. There is evidence from inelastic light scattering that the polar spacer mediates long-range transmission of orbital magnetization. This coupling mechanism is expected to apply for any conducting ferromagnetic oxide with mixed valence; in view of electron hopping frequency involved, it raises the prospect of terahertz tunability of magnetic coupling. PMID:26980456

A generalized class of exotic long-range Rydberg molecules consisting of a multichannel Rydberg atom bound to a distant ground state atom by the Rydberg electron is predicted. These molecules are characterized by the rich physics provided by the strongly perturbed multichannel Rydberg spectra of divalent atoms, in contrast to the regular Rydberg series of the alkali atoms used to form Rydberg molecules to date. These multichannel Rydberg molecules exhibit favorable properties for laser excitation, because states exist where the quantum defect varies strongly with the principal quantum number n. In particular, the nd Rydberg state of calcium becomes nearly degenerate with states of high orbital angular momentum over the range 17 < n < 22 , promoting its admixture into the high l deeply bound ``trilobite'' molecule states and thereby circumventing the usual difficulty posed by electric dipole selection rules. Further novel molecular states are predicted to occur in the low- J states of silicon, which are strongly perturbed due to channel interactions between Rydberg series leading to the spin-orbit split ionization thresholds. These interactions manifest themselves in potential curves exhibiting two distinct length scales, providing novel opportunities for quantum manipulation. Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY-1306905.

Completely open systems can exchange heat, work, and matter with the environment. While energy, volume, and number of particles fluctuate under completely open conditions, the equilibrium states of the system, if they exist, can be specified using the temperature, pressure, and chemical potential as control parameters. The unconstrained ensemble is the statistical ensemble describing completely open systems and the replica energy is the appropriate free energy for these control parameters from which the thermodynamics must be derived. It turns out that macroscopic systems with short-range interactions cannot attain equilibrium configurations in the unconstrained ensemble, since temperature, pressure, and chemical potential cannot be taken as a set of independent variables in this case. In contrast, we show that systems with long-range interactions can reach states of thermodynamic equilibrium in the unconstrained ensemble. To illustrate this fact, we consider a modification of the Thirring model and compare the unconstrained ensemble with the canonical and grand-canonical ones: The more the ensemble is constrained by fixing the volume or number of particles, the larger the space of parameters defining the equilibrium configurations.

Quantum fluctuations create intermolecular forces that pervade macroscopic bodies1–3. At molecular separations of a few nanometres or less, these interactions are the familiar van der Waals forces4. However, as recognized in the theories of Casimir, Polder and Lifshitz5–7, at larger distances and between macroscopic condensed media they reveal retardation effects associated with the finite speed of light. Although these long-range forces exist within all matter, only attractive interactions have so far been measured between material bodies8–11. Here we show experimentally that, in accord with theoretical prediction12, the sign of the force can be changed from attractive to repulsive by suitable choice of interacting materials immersed in a fluid. The measured repulsive interaction is found to be weaker than the attractive. However, in both cases the magnitude of the force increases with decreasing surface separation. Repulsive Casimir–Lifshitz forces could allow quantum levitation of objects in a fluid and lead to a new class of switchable nanoscale devices with ultra-low static friction13–15. PMID:19129843

The Department of Energy has consolidated its plans for Information Systems, Computing Resources, and Telecommunications into a single document, the Information Technology Resources Long-Range Plan. The consolidation was done as a joint effort by the Office of ADP Management and the Office of Computer Services and Telecommunications Management under the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, Information, and Facilities Management. This Plan is the product of a long-range planning process used to project both future information technology requirements and the resources necessary to meet those requirements. It encompasses the plans of the various organizational components within the Department and its management and operating contractors over the next 5 fiscal years, 1991 through 1995.

In this paper we study the quantum transport on networks with a temporal evolution governed by the fractional Schrödinger equation. We generalize the dynamics based on continuous-time quantum walks, with transitions to nearest neighbors on the network, to the fractional case that allows long-range displacements. By using the fractional Laplacian matrix of a network, we establish a formalism that combines a long-range dynamics with the quantum superposition of states; this general approach applies to any type of connected undirected networks, including regular, random, and complex networks, and can be implemented from the spectral properties of the Laplacian matrix. We study the fractional dynamics and its capacity to explore the network by means of the transition probability, the average probability of return, and global quantities that characterize the efficiency of this quantum process. As a particular case, we explore analytically these quantities for circulant networks such as rings, interacting cycles, and complete graphs.

This document describes IRM activities and the information technology resources and capabilities of the Department, the future requirements, and the strategies and plans to satisfy the identified requirements. The long-range planning process provides the systematic means to meet this objective and assists the Department in assuring that information technology (IT) support is provided in an efficient, effective, and timely manner so that its programmatic missions can be accomplished. Another important objective of the Plan is to promote better understanding, both within and external to the Department, of its IT environment, requirements, issues, and recommended solutions. This DOE IRM Plan takes into consideration the IRM requirements of approximately 50 different sites. The annual long-range planning cycle for supporting this Plan was initiated by a Call in August 1991 for site plans to be submitted in February 1992 by those Departmental components and contractors with major IRM requirements.

In this paper we study the quantum transport on networks with a temporal evolution governed by the fractional Schrödinger equation. We generalize the dynamics based on continuous-time quantum walks, with transitions to nearest neighbors on the network, to the fractional case that allows long-range displacements. By using the fractional Laplacian matrix of a network, we establish a formalism that combines a long-range dynamics with the quantum superposition of states; this general approach applies to any type of connected undirected networks, including regular, random, and complex networks, and can be implemented from the spectral properties of the Laplacian matrix. We study the fractional dynamics and its capacity to explore the network by means of the transition probability, the average probability of return, and global quantities that characterize the efficiency of this quantum process. As a particular case, we explore analytically these quantities for circulant networks such as rings, interacting cycles, and complete graphs.

The conserved family of Hedgehog (Hh) proteins acts as short- and long-range secreted morphogens, controlling tissue patterning and differentiation during embryonic development. Mature Hh carries hydrophobic palmitic acid and cholesterol modifications essential for its extracellular spreading. Various extracellular transportation mechanisms for Hh have been suggested, but the pathways actually used for Hh secretion and transport in vivo remain unclear. Here we show that Hh secretion in Drosophila wing imaginal discs is dependent on the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT). In vivo the reduction of ESCRT activity in cells producing Hh leads to a retention of Hh at the external cell surface. Furthermore, we show that ESCRT activity in Hh-producing cells is required for long-range signalling. We also provide evidence that pools of Hh and ESCRT proteins are secreted together into the extracellular space in vivo and can subsequently be detected together at the surface of receiving cells. These findings uncover a new function for ESCRT proteins in controlling morphogen activity and reveal a new mechanism for the transport of secreted Hh across the tissue by extracellular vesicles, which is necessary for long-range target induction.

In recent experiments with ion traps, long-range interactions were associated with the exceptionally fast propagation of perturbation, while in some theoretical works they have also been related with the suppression of propagation. Here, we show that such apparently contradictory behavior is caused by a general property of long-range interacting systems, which we name cooperative shielding. It refers to shielded subspaces that emerge as the system size increases and inside of which the evolution is unaffected by long-range interactions for a long time. As a result, the dynamics strongly depends on the initial state: if it belongs to a shielded subspace, the spreading of perturbation satisfies the Lieb-Robinson bound and may even be suppressed, while for initial states with components in various subspaces, the propagation may be quasi-instantaneous. We establish an analogy between the shielding effect and the onset of quantum Zeno subspaces. The derived effective Zeno Hamiltonian successfully describes the short-ranged dynamics inside the subspaces up to a time scale that increases with system size. Cooperative shielding can be tested in current experiments with trapped ions.

The local thermodynamics of a system with long-range interactions in d dimensions is studied using the mean-field approximation. Long-range interactions are introduced through pair interaction potentials that decay as a power law in the interparticle distance. We compute the local entropy, Helmholtz free energy, and grand potential per particle in the microcanonical, canonical, and grand canonical ensembles, respectively. From the local entropy per particle we obtain the local equation of state of the system by using the condition of local thermodynamic equilibrium. This local equation of state has the form of the ideal gas equation of state, but with the density depending on the potential characterizing long-range interactions. By volume integration of the relation between the different thermodynamic potentials at the local level, we find the corresponding equation satisfied by the potentials at the global level. It is shown that the potential energy enters as a thermodynamic variable that modifies the global thermodynamic potentials. As a result, we find a generalized Gibbs-Duhem equation that relates the potential energy to the temperature, pressure, and chemical potential. For the marginal case where the power of the decaying interaction potential is equal to the dimension of the space, the usual Gibbs-Duhem equation is recovered. As examples of the application of this equation, we consider spatially uniform interaction potentials and the self-gravitating gas. We also point out a close relationship with the thermodynamics of small systems.

Grapheme-color synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon where single graphemes (e.g., the letter "E") induce simultaneous sensations of colors (e.g., the color green) that were not objectively shown. Current models disagree as to whether the color sensations arise from increased short-range connectivity between anatomically adjacent grapheme- and color-processing brain structures or from decreased effectiveness of inhibitory long-range connections feeding back into visual cortex. We addressed this issue by examining neural synchrony obtained from EEG activity, in a sample of grapheme-color synesthetes that were presented with color-inducing versus non-color-inducing graphemes. For color-inducing graphemes, the results showed a decrease in the number of long-range couplings in the theta frequency band (4-7 Hz, 280-540 msec) and a concurrent increase of short-range phase-locking within lower beta band (13-20 Hz, 380-420 msec at occipital electrodes). Because the effects were both found in long-range synchrony and later within the visual processing stream, the results support the idea that reduced inhibition is an important factor for the emergence of synesthetic colors.

The presence or absence of long-range correlations in the variations of indoor Radon concentrations has recently attracted considerable interest. As a radioactive gas naturally emitted from the ground in certain geological settings, understanding environmental factors controlling Radon concentrations and their dynamics is important for estimating its effect on human health and the efficiency of possible measures for reducing the corresponding exposition. In this work, we re-analyze two high-resolution records of indoor Radon concentrations from Coimbra, Portugal, each of which spans several months of continuous measurements. In order to evaluate the presence of long-range correlations and fractal scaling, we utilize a multiplicity of complementary methods, including power spectral analysis, ARFIMA modeling, classical and multi-fractal detrended fluctuation analysis, and two different estimators of the signals' fractal dimensions. Power spectra and fluctuation functions reveal some complex behavior with qualitatively different properties on different time-scales: white noise in the high-frequency part, indications of some long-range correlated process dominating time scales of several hours to days, and pronounced low-frequency variability associated with tidal and/or meteorological forcing. In order to further decompose these different scales of variability, we apply two different approaches. On the one hand, applying multi-resolution analysis based on the discrete wavelet transform allows separately studying contributions on different time scales and characterize their specific correlation and scaling properties. On the other hand, singular system analysis (SSA) provides a reconstruction of the essential modes of variability. Specifically, by considering only the first leading SSA modes, we achieve an efficient de-noising of our environmental signals, highlighting the low-frequency variations together with some distinct scaling on sub-daily time-scales resembling

This paper will address longrange laser propagation applications where power and, in particular beam quality issues play a major role. Hereby the power level is defined by the specific mission under consideration. I restrict myself to the following application areas: (1)Remote sensing/Space based LIDAR, (2) Space debris removal (3)Energy transmission, and (4)Directed energy weapons Typical examples for space based LIDARs are the ADM Aeolus ESA mission using the ALADIN Nd:YAG laser with its third harmonic at 355 nm and the NASA 2 μm Tm:Ho:LuLiF convectively cooled solid state laser. Space debris removal has attracted more attention in the last years due to the dangerous accumulation of debris in orbit which become a threat to the satellites and the ISS space station. High power high brightness lasers may contribute to this problem by partially ablating the debris material and hence generating an impulse which will eventually de-orbit the debris with their subsequent disintegration in the lower atmosphere. Energy transmission via laser beam from space to earth has long been discussed as a novel long term approach to solve the energy problem on earth. In addition orbital transfer and stationkeeping are among the more mid-term applications of high power laser beams. Finally, directed energy weapons are becoming closer to reality as corresponding laser sources have matured due to recent efforts in the JHPSSL program. All of this can only be realized if he laser sources fulfill the necessary power requirements while keeping the beam quality as close as possible to the diffraction limited value. And this is the rationale and motivation of this paper.

Exchange Interactions in diluted organometallic crystalline thin films of Phthalocyanines made of a mixture of organo-soluble derivatives of metal-free (H2Pc) molecule and MnPc is investigated. The tuning of optical and magnetic properties in organometallics is driven by their emergence in optoelectronic applications involving flexible electronics. Thin films with metal to metal-free Pc ratios ranging from 1: 1 to 1:10 were fabricated using solution processing that produces macroscopic grains. In the case of Mn-Pc, our previos measurements showed enhanced hybridization of ligand π-electronic states with the Mn d-orbitals as well as indirect exchange interaction similar to that of RKKY type exchange. The evolution of Zeeman splitting of specific MCD-active states resulted in enhanced effective π-electrons g-factors, analogous to diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) systems. Recent Variable temperature Magnetic Circular Dichroism (VTVH-MCD) measurements has now revealed that the exchange interaction is Antiferromagnetic. Recent MCD data for mixed derivatives will be presented along with their temperature dependance that further probes this exchange interaction. NSF award 1056589

A new Variable-Phase (VP) algorithm for solving the close coupled equations of inelastic scattering in atom-molecule collisions driven by a strong longrange potential is presented. The proposed method allows for a rigorous, gradual reduction of the number of closed channels during the outward propagation of the solution of the VP equations. In this way it allows a considerable saving of CPU time when dealing with strong, long-range potentials. A further saving of computational time is achieved by the use of a zero order effective potential in the reference problem which avoids the calculation of the computationally expensive Bessel functions. The K matrix version of the VP equations are solved with a standard Runge-Kutta integrator with adaptive step size. The low-energy, rotational excitation process in the LiH-H + system is used to test the resulting algorithm and we show that the present method once applied to long-range interactions, can be orders of magnitude faster than the widely used, adaptive-step size LogDerivative/Airy propagator while keeping the same level of accuracy.

Efficient transport of excitation energy over long distances is a key process in light-harvesting systems, as well as in molecular electronics. However, in synthetic disordered organic materials, the exciton diffusion length is typically only around 10 nanometres (refs 4, 5), or about 50 nanometres in exceptional cases, a distance that is largely determined by the probability laws of incoherent exciton hopping. Only for highly ordered organic systems has the transport of excitation energy over macroscopic distances been reported--for example, for triplet excitons in anthracene single crystals at room temperature, as well as along single polydiacetylene chains embedded in their monomer crystalline matrix at cryogenic temperatures (at 10 kelvin, or -263 degrees Celsius). For supramolecular nanostructures, uniaxial long-range transport has not been demonstrated at room temperature. Here we show that individual self-assembled nanofibres with molecular-scale diameter efficiently transport singlet excitons at ambient conditions over more than four micrometres, a distance that is limited only by the fibre length. Our data suggest that this remarkable long-range transport is predominantly coherent. Such coherent long-range transport is achieved by one-dimensional self-assembly of supramolecular building blocks, based on carbonyl-bridged triarylamines, into well defined H-type aggregates (in which individual monomers are aligned cofacially) with substantial electronic interactions. These findings may facilitate the development of organic nanophotonic devices and quantum information technology.

Efficient transport of excitation energy over long distances is a key process in light-harvesting systems, as well as in molecular electronics. However, in synthetic disordered organic materials, the exciton diffusion length is typically only around 10 nanometres (refs 4, 5), or about 50 nanometres in exceptional cases, a distance that is largely determined by the probability laws of incoherent exciton hopping. Only for highly ordered organic systems has the transport of excitation energy over macroscopic distances been reported--for example, for triplet excitons in anthracene single crystals at room temperature, as well as along single polydiacetylene chains embedded in their monomer crystalline matrix at cryogenic temperatures (at 10 kelvin, or -263 degrees Celsius). For supramolecular nanostructures, uniaxial long-range transport has not been demonstrated at room temperature. Here we show that individual self-assembled nanofibres with molecular-scale diameter efficiently transport singlet excitons at ambient conditions over more than four micrometres, a distance that is limited only by the fibre length. Our data suggest that this remarkable long-range transport is predominantly coherent. Such coherent long-range transport is achieved by one-dimensional self-assembly of supramolecular building blocks, based on carbonyl-bridged triarylamines, into well defined H-type aggregates (in which individual monomers are aligned cofacially) with substantial electronic interactions. These findings may facilitate the development of organic nanophotonic devices and quantum information technology.

Two competing mechanisms are relevant for long-range electron transfer (ET) in biomolecules: direct electron tunneling between donor (D) and acceptor (A), D → A, and multistep hopping D → X → A, where an electron or an electron hole is transiently localized on intermediate sites X. Which of these mechanisms dominates the ET reaction is determined by the arrangement and electronic properties of the redox centers. For thermal ET, it is shown that single-step tunneling is overcome by hopping when the energy gap E between D and X is smaller than the crossover barrier E(C), E(C) = (ΔG/2) + (3/4)k(B)TβR(DA), where ΔG is the driving force, β the decay parameter, and R(DA) the donor-acceptor distance. In proteins at T = 300 K, hopping will dominate when E < E(C) = (ΔG/2) + (R(DA)/50) (E and ΔG are in eV, R(DA) in Å); single-step tunneling will be operative when E > E(C). Thus, one can explore the ET mechanism using three quantities E, ΔG, and R(DA). When ΔG = 0 and E = 0.5 eV (the difference in redox potentials of D and X is 0.5 V), two-step hopping D → X → A will be favored at R(DA) >25 Å. In protein ET chains, the distance between redox cofactors is often smaller than 20 Å, but the gap E between the cofactors and surrounding amino acid residues is larger than 0.5 eV. Therefore, ET in the systems should occur by single-step tunneling D → A. In the activationless regime (ΔG ≈ -λ, λ is the reorganization energy) often observed for photoinduced ET, the crossing point energy is determined by E(C) = (2λkTβR(DA))(1/2) - λ. The suggested expressions for the threshold barrier may be useful to predict the ET mechanism in natural and artificial redox systems.

We report a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the magnetic structure of the honeycomb-lattice magnet Na2IrO3, a candidate for a realization of a gapless spin liquid. Using resonant x-ray magnetic scattering at the Ir L3 edge, we find three-dimensional long-range antiferromagnetic order below TN=13.3 K. From the azimuthal dependence of the magnetic Bragg peak, the ordered moment is determined to be predominantly along the a axis. Combining the experimental data with first-principles calculations, we propose that the most likely spin structure is a zig-zag structure.

Retinal lateral inhibition is one of the conventional efficient coding mechanisms in the visual system that is produced by interneurons that pool signals over a neighborhood of presynaptic feedforward cells and send inhibitory signals back to them. Thus, the receptive-field (RF) of a retinal ganglion cell has a center-surround receptive-field (RF) profile that is classically represented as a difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) adequate for efficient spatial contrast coding. The DOG RF profile has been attributed to produce the psychophysical phenomena of brightness induction, in which the perceived brightness of an object is affected by that of its vicinity, either shifting away from it (brightness contrast) or becoming more similar to it (brightness assimilation) depending on the size of the surfaces surrounding the object. While brightness contrast can be modeled using a DOG with a narrow surround, brightness assimilation requires a wide suppressive surround. Early retinal studies determined that the suppressive surround of a retinal ganglion cell is narrow (< 100–300 μm; ‘classic RF’), which led researchers to postulate that brightness assimilation must originate at some post-retinal, possibly cortical, stage where long-range interactions are feasible. However, more recent studies have reported that the retinal interneurons also exhibit a spatially wide component (> 500–1000 μm). In the current study, we examine the effect of this wide interneuron RF component in two biophysical retinal models and show that for both of the retinal models it explains the long-range effect evidenced in simultaneous brightness induction phenomena and that the spatial extent of this long-range effect of the retinal model responses matches that of perceptual data. These results suggest that the retinal lateral inhibition mechanism alone can regulate local as well as long-range spatial induction through the narrow and wide RF components of retinal interneurons, arguing against the

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a hepatotropic virus with a plus-strand RNA genome of ∼9.600 nt. Due to error-prone replication by its RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) residing in nonstructural protein 5B (NS5B), HCV isolates are grouped into seven genotypes with several subtypes. By using whole-genome sequences of 106 HCV isolates and secondary structure alignments of the plus-strand genome and its minus-strand replication intermediate, we established refined secondary structures of the 5′ untranslated region (UTR), the cis-acting replication element (CRE) in NS5B, and the 3′ UTR. We propose an alternative structure in the 5′ UTR, conserved secondary structures of 5B stem–loop (SL)1 and 5BSL2, and four possible structures of the X-tail at the very 3′ end of the HCV genome. We predict several previously unknown long-range interactions, most importantly a possible circularization interaction between distinct elements in the 5′ and 3′ UTR, reminiscent of the cyclization elements of the related flaviviruses. Based on analogy to these viruses, we propose that the 5′–3′ UTR base-pairing in the HCV genome might play an important role in viral RNA replication. These results may have important implications for our understanding of the nature of the cis-acting RNA elements in the HCV genome and their possible role in regulating the mutually exclusive processes of viral RNA translation and replication. PMID:25964384

Ising interactions are one paradigm used to model quantum magnetism in condensed matter systems. At NIST Boulder we confine and Doppler laser cool hundreds of 9Be+ ions in a Penning trap. The valence electron of each ion behaves as an ideal spin-1/2 particle and, in the limit of weak radial confinement relative to axial confinement, the ions naturally form a two-dimensional triangular lattice. A variable-range anti-ferromagnetic Ising interaction is engineered with a spin-dependent optical dipole force (ODF) through spin-dependent excitation of collective modes of ion motion. We have also exploited this spin-dependent force to perform spectroscopy and thermometry of the normal modes of the trapped ion crystal. The high spin-count and long-range spin-spin couplings achievable in the NIST Penning trap brings within reach simulation of computationally intractable problems in quantum magnetism. Examples include modeling quantum magnetic phase transitions and propagation of spin correlations resulting from a quantum quench. The Penning system may also be amenable to observation of spin-liquid behavior thought to arise in systems where the underlying lattice structure can frustrate long-range ordering. Supported by DARPA OLE and NIST.

This environmental impact report (EIR) has been prepared pursuant to the applicable provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and its implementing guidelines (CEQA Guidelines), and the Amended University of California Procedures for Implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act (UC CEQA Procedures). The University of California (UC or the University) is the lead agency for this EIR, which examines the overall effects of implementation of the proposed 2006 LongRange Development Plan (LRDP; also referred to herein as the 'project' for purposes of CEQA) for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL; also referred to as 'Berkeley Lab,' 'the Laboratory,' or 'the Lab' in this document). An LRDP is a land use plan that guides overall development of a site. The Lab serves as a special research campus operated by the University employees, but it is owned and financed by the federal government and as such it is distinct from the UC-owned Berkeley Campus. As a campus operated by the University of California, the Laboratory is required to prepare an EIR for an LRDP when one is prepared or updated pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080.09. The adoption of an LRDP does not constitute a commitment to, or final decision to implement, any specific project, construction schedule, or funding priority. Rather, the proposed 2006 LRDP describes an entire development program of approximately 980,000 gross square feet of new research and support space construction and 320,000 gross square feet of demolition of existing facilities, for a total of approximately 660,000 gross square feet of net new occupiable space for the site through 2025. Specific projects will undergo CEQA review at the time proposed to determine what, if any, additional review is necessary prior to approval. As described in Section 1.4.2, below, and in Chapter 3 of this EIR (the Project Description), the size of the project has been reduced since the Notice of Preparation for

We deal with the problem of studying the symmetries and the effective theories of long-range models around their critical points. A prominent issue is to determine whether they possess (or not) conformal symmetry (CS) at criticality and how the presence of CS depends on the range of the interactions. To have a model, both simple to treat and interesting, where to investigate these questions, we focus on the Kitaev chain with long-range pairings decaying with distance as power-law with exponent α. This is a quadratic solvable model, yet displaying non-trivial quantum phase transitions. Two critical lines are found, occurring respectively at a positive and a negative chemical potential. Focusing first on the critical line at positive chemical potential, by means of a renormalization group approach we derive its effective theory close to criticality. Our main result is that the effective action is the sum of two terms: a Dirac action SD, found in the short-range Ising universality class, and an "anomalous" CS breaking term SAN. While SD originates from low-energy excitations in the spectrum, SAN originates from the higher energy modes where singularities develop, due to the long-range nature of the model. At criticality SAN flows to zero for α > 2, while for α < 2 it dominates and determines the breakdown of the CS. Out of criticality SAN breaks, in the considered approximation, the effective Lorentz invariance (ELI) for every finite α. As α increases such ELI breakdown becomes less and less pronounced and in the short-range limit α → ∞ the ELI is restored. In order to test the validity of the determined effective theory, we compared the two-fermion static correlation functions and the von Neumann entropy obtained from them with the ones calculated on the lattice, finding agreement. These results explain two observed features characteristic of long-range models, the hybrid decay of static correlation functions within gapped phases and the area-law violation

A series of intergrowth bismuth-layered (Bi{sub 3}TiNbO{sub 9}){sub 2}(Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12}) (2{sub 2}3) ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction to study the characteristics of the local orderings in long-range-disordered intergrowth structures. High-resolution high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) imaging reveals the intergrowth structure composed of mixtures of -23-, -223-, -2223- and -22- sequences, while the -223- structure is the thermodynamic stable state of this intergrowth system. It was confirmed by the crystals of recurrent -223- structure prepared by self-flux method and the nature of the local ordering was discussed from their differences in repeating units. The statistics show that when repeating units reach 4 or higher, the independent -223- intergrowth ordering emerges clearly among the competing associated orderings. We infer it is the kinetic factor that induces local compositional variance to result in long-range disordered intergrowth structures. - Graphical abstract: The long-range-disordered intergrowth structure in a (Bi{sub 3}TiNbO{sub 9}){sub 2}(Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12}) (2{sub 2}3) grain, which is composed of various types of local orderings, such as -22-, -23- and -223-. - Highlights: • The characteristic of the long-range-disordered (Bi{sub 3}TiNbO{sub 9}){sub 2}(Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12}) (2{sub 2}3) structure was statistically analyzed, and the ordered -223- structure was speculated to be the thermodynamic stable state of the system. • The crystals of the -223- structure were successfully prepared for the first time by self-melt method. • The lower limit of the repeating units (L) to uniquely determine an independent intergrowth structure was speculated to be L=4. • The analysis inferred that the kinetic process is the controlling factor to limit the structural continuity and induce the long-range-disordered intergrowth structure.

We present an overview of our recent investigations of long-range interactions in an ultracold Cs Rydberg gas. These interactions are studied by high-resolution photoassociation spectroscopy, using excitation close to one-photon transitions into np3/2 Rydberg states with pulsed and continuous-wave ultraviolet laser radiation, and lead to the formation of long-range Cs2 molecules. We observe two types of molecular resonances. The first type originates from the correlated excitation of two atoms into Rydberg-atom-pair states interacting at longrange via multipole-multipole interactions. The second type results from the interaction of one atom excited to a Rydberg state with one atom in the electronic ground state. Which type of resonances is observed in the experiments depends on the laser intensity and frequency and on the pulse sequences used to prepare the Rydberg states. We obtain insights into both types of molecular resonances by modelling the interaction potentials, using a multipole expansion of the long-range interaction for the first type of resonances and a Fermi-contact pseudo-potential for the second type of resonances. We analyse the relation of these long-range molecular resonances to molecular Rydberg states and ion-pair states, and discuss their decay channels into atomic and molecular ions. In experiments carried out with a two-colour two-photon excitation scheme, we observe a large enhancement of Rydberg-excitation probability, which we interpret as a saturable autocatalytic antiblockade phenomenon.

specificity for various salient measures, as a function of data length, is determined by the use of ROC analysis. A phase-space reconstruction based on generalized heart rate is used to obtain a putative attractor's capacity dimension. Though the dependence of this dimension on the embedding dimension is consistent with that of a low-dimensional dynamical system, surrogate-data analysis shows that identical behavior emerges from long-range temporal correlations in a stochastic process.^2 An integrate-and-fire model, comprising a fractal-Gaussian-noise kernel and Gaussian event-jittering,(S. Thurner, S. B. Lowen, M. C. Feurstein, C. Heneghan, H. G. Feichtinger, and M. C. Teich, Fractals) 5, No. 4 (1997). provides a realistic simulation of heartbeat sequences for both normal and heart-failure patients, over all time scales. These results could be of use in generating an artificial heartbeat that mimics the healthy heartbeat sequence for applications such as pacemakers. The presentation will be concluded with a brief discussion of the application of these methods to other unitary biological signals.

This paper covers the development of computer simulation models of the Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD) process, the Super Critical Water Oxidation (SCWO) process, and two versions of a Vapor Phase Catalytic Ammonia Reduction (VPCAR) process. These process level models have combined into two Integrated Water Reclamation Systems (IWRS). Results from these integrated models, in conjunction with other data sources, have been used to develop a preliminary comparison of the two systems. Also discussed in this paper is the development of a Vapor Phase Catalytic Ammonia Reduction teststand and the development of a new urine analog for use with the teststand and computer models.

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Allostery is conformation regulation by propagating a signal from one site to another distal site. This study focuses on the long-range communication in DNA mismatch repair proteins MutS and its homologs where intramolecular signaling has to travel over 70 Å to couple lesion detection to ATPase activity and eventual downstream repair. Using dynamic network analysis based on extensive molecular dynamics simulations, multiple preserved communication pathways were identified that would allow such long-range signaling. The pathways appear to depend on the nucleotides bound to the ATPase domain as well as the type of DNA substrate consistent with previously proposed functional cycles of mismatch recognition and repair initiation by MutS and homologs. A mechanism is proposed where pathways are switched without major conformational rearrangements allowing for efficient long-range signaling and allostery. PMID:27768684

The sunspot number (SSN), the total solar irradiance (TSI), a TSI reconstruction, and the solar flare index (SFI) are analyzed for long-range persistence (LRP). Standard Hurst analysis yields H ≈ 0.9, which suggests strong LRP. However, solar activity time series are nonstationary because of the almost-periodic 11 year smooth component, and the analysis does not give the correct H for the stochastic component. Better estimates are obtained by detrended fluctuation analysis, but estimates are biased and errors are large because of the short time records. These time series can be modeled as a stochastic process of the form x(t) = y(t) + σy(t)wH(t), where y(t) is the smooth component and wH(t) is a stationary fractional noise with Hurst exponent H. From ensembles of numerical solutions to the stochastic model and application of Bayes' theorem, we can obtain bias and error bars on H and also a test of the hypothesis that a process is uncorrelated (H = 1/2). The conclusions from the present data sets are that SSN, TSI, and TSI reconstruction almost certainly are long-range persistent, but with the most probable value H ≈ 0.7. The SFI process, however, is either very weakly persistent (H < 0.6) or completely uncorrelated on timescales longer than a few solar rotations. Differences between stochastic properties of the TSI and its reconstruction indicate some error in the reconstruction scheme.

20 MHz radio signals have been received during the day from satellite Beacon-B when it was below the optical horizon by using a bank of narrow filters to improve the signal to noise ratio. The Faraday fading rate becomes constant, under these conditions, at a level determined by the plasma frequency just below the F-layer peak. Variations in the Faraday fading rate reveal fluctuations in the electron density near the peak, while the rate of attaining the constant level depends on the shape of the electron density profile.

Color induction was measured using a matching method for two spatial patterns, each composed of double contours. In one pattern (the standard), the contours had sharp edges to induce the Watercolor Effect (WCE); in the other, the two contours had a spatial taper so that the overall profile produced a sawtooth edge, or ramped stimulus. These patterns were chosen based on our previous study demonstrating that the strength of the chromatic WCE depends on a luminance difference between the two contours. Low-pass chromatic mechanisms, unlike bandpass luminance mechanisms, may be expected to be insensitive to the difference between the two spatial profiles. The strength of the watercolor spreading was similar for the two patterns at narrow widths of the contour possibly because of chromatic aberration, but with wider contours, the standard stimulus produced stronger assimilation than the ramped stimulus. This research suggests that luminance-dependent chromatic mechanisms mediate the WCE and that these mechanisms are sensitive to differences in the two spatial profiles of the pattern contours only when they are wide. PMID:16961998

We report an empirical study of the Ibovespa index of the São Paulo Stock Exchange in which we detect the existence of long-range correlations. To analyze our data, we introduce a rescaled variant of the usual detrended fluctuation analysis that allows us to obtain the Hurst exponent through a one-parameter fitting. We also compute a time-dependent Hurst exponent H( t) using 3-year moving time windows. In particular, we find that before the launch of the Collor Plan in 1990 the curve H( t) remains, in general, well above {1}/{2}, while afterwards it stays close to {1}/{2}. We thus argue that the structural reforms set off by the Collor Plan has lead to a more efficient stock market in Brazil. We also suggest that the time dependence of the Ibovespa Hurst exponent could be described in terms of a multifractional Brownian motion.

Reports on the techniques and approaches to planning actually being used by corporate strategists. Provides information concerning the survey and data on which this article is based, the planning process in approximately 400 business firms, and the use of two planning tools -- outside consultants and computers/mathematical models. (Author/WM)

Characteristics of small college administration as it applies to the future are described. Consideration is given to the process for anticipating change in the circumstances surrounding colleges, identifying opportunities, and planning to take advantage of positive changes in the environment (i.e., future focused planning). The use of the Planning…

charge separation, with ice particles, graupel, and supercooled water coexisting in the mixed phase region, was present throughout the mature phase of...freezing of raindrops and grew by riming with supercooled cloud droplets. This process resulted in a substantial amount of frozen precipitation

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An Eulerian global meteorological tracer transport model has been constructed for simulating the longrange transport of anthropogenic sulfur. The advantage of this model is that the physical processes in the atmosphere, advection and chemical conversions are calculated within one consistent modeling system. The global model presented here includes the dynamics of meteorological and tracer fields, thermodynamics, cloud processes, turbulent boundary layer mixing, multiple 3-dimensional anthropogenic sulfur emission sources, dry and aqueous-phase chemical processes for sulfur, dry deposition process and the precipitation scavenging of sulfur. In contrast to an off-line chemical transport model the dynamic global tracer model is capable of studying the interaction between pollutant, radiative and hydrological budgets and atmospheric circulation.

Sedimentary distributions of plant leaf wax molecular and isotopic composition can provide detailed information about past terrestrial ecosystem structure and its variability in response to climatic forcing. However, in many locales (e.g. marine sediments, high elevation lakes), sedimentary plant waxes are derived primarily from atmospheric deposition rather than from local fluvial input or direct runoff. Thus, an understanding of wax atmospheric transport and deposition is essential for accurate interpretation of the sedimentary signal. In this talk we synthesize results from our studies of wax aerosol composition and atmospheric transport at strategically located sites (Northern Alaska, Maine, Florida, Bermuda, Barbados, French Guiana) that sample continental air masses passing over major terrestrial ecosystems (tundra, North American boreal, temperate and southern pine forests, North African desert grasslands, Amazon rain forest). Wax aerosols in boundary layer air masses reflect a large regionally integrated source signal. Over the North Atlantic, the long-range atmospheric transport of plant waxes is essentially uncorrelated with episodes of high African dust transport. Rather, the highest plant wax aerosol concentrations are clearly associated with continental air masses that are laden with smoke from biomass burning, which enhances long-range transport both by the process of steam distillation of wax and other easily volatilized compounds off living (moisture-rich) vegetation in the advancing front of the fire and by deep atmospheric convection, which efficiently injects re- condensed particles into the lower troposphere where they can be most efficiently transported by high altitude winds. The direct linkage between enhanced long-range atmospheric transport of plant waxes and biomass burning suggests that the wax sedimentary record in localities dominated by atmospheric input strongly co-varies with climate-driven changes in fire frequency and is

In Canton Ticino (Southern Switzerland), the exploitation of natural stone, mostly gneisses, is an important activity of valley's economies. Nowadays, these economic activities are menaced by (i) the exploitation costs related to geological phenomena such as fractures, faults and heterogeneous rocks that hinder the processing of the stone product, (ii) continuously changing demand because of the evolving natural stone fashion and (iii) increasing administrative limits and rules acting to protect the environment. Therefore, the sustainable development of the sector for the next decades needs new and effective strategies to regulate and plan the quarries. A fundamental step in this process is the building of a 3D geological model of the quarries to constrain the volume of commercial natural stone and the volume of waste. In this context, we conducted Terrestrial Laser Scanning surveys of the quarries in the Maggia Valley to obtain a detailed 3D topography onto which the geological units were mapped. The topographic 3D model was obtained with a long-range laser scanning Riegl VZ4000 that can measure from up to 4 km of distance with a speed of 147,000 points per second. It operates with the new V-line technology, which defines the surface relief by sensing differentiated signals (echoes), even in the presence of obstacles such as vegetation. Depending on the esthetics of the gneisses, we defined seven types of natural stones that, together with faults and joints, were mapped onto the 3D models of the exploitation sites. According to the orientation of the geological limits and structures, we projected the different rock units and fractures into the excavation front. This way, we obtained a 3D geological model from which we can quantitatively estimate the volume of the seven different natural stones (with different commercial value) and waste (with low commercial value). To verify the 3D geological models and to quantify exploited rock and waste volumes the same

Measurements of sound propagation over distances up to 1000 m were carried out with an impulse sound source offering reproducible, short time signals. Temperature and wind speed at several heights were monitored simultaneously; the meteorological data are used to determine the sound speed gradients according to the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. The sound speed profile is compared to a corresponding prediction, gained through the measured travel time difference between direct and ground reflected pulse (which depends on the sound speed gradient). Positive sound speed gradients cause bending of the sound rays towards the ground yielding enhanced sound pressure levels. The measured meteorological effects on sound propagation are discussed and illustrated by ray tracing methods.

We present two improvements to the tight-binding approximation of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFTB): First, we add an exact Hartree-Fock exchange term, which is switched on at large distances, to the ground state Hamiltonian and similarly to the coupling matrix that enters the linear response equations for the calculation of excited electronic states. We show that the excitation energies of charge transfer states are improved relative to the standard approach without the long-range correction by testing the method on a set of molecules from the database in Peach et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 128, 044118 (2008)] which are known to exhibit problematic charge transfer states. The degree of spatial overlap between occupied and virtual orbitals indicates where TD-DFTB and long-range corrected TD-DFTB (lc-TD-DFTB) can be expected to produce large errors. Second, we improve the calculation of oscillator strengths. The transition dipoles are obtained from Slater Koster files for the dipole matrix elements between valence orbitals. In particular, excitations localized on a single atom, which appear dark when using Mulliken transition charges, acquire a more realistic oscillator strength in this way. These extensions pave the way for using lc-TD-DFTB to describe the electronic structure of large chromophoric polymers, where uncorrected TD-DFTB fails to describe the high degree of conjugation and produces spurious low-lying charge transfer states.

We present two improvements to the tight-binding approximation of time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFTB): First, we add an exact Hartree-Fock exchange term, which is switched on at large distances, to the ground state Hamiltonian and similarly to the coupling matrix that enters the linear response equations for the calculation of excited electronic states. We show that the excitation energies of charge transfer states are improved relative to the standard approach without the long-range correction by testing the method on a set of molecules from the database in Peach et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 128, 044118 (2008)] which are known to exhibit problematic charge transfer states. The degree of spatial overlap between occupied and virtual orbitals indicates where TD-DFTB and long-range corrected TD-DFTB (lc-TD-DFTB) can be expected to produce large errors. Second, we improve the calculation of oscillator strengths. The transition dipoles are obtained from Slater Koster files for the dipole matrix elements between valence orbitals. In particular, excitations localized on a single atom, which appear dark when using Mulliken transition charges, acquire a more realistic oscillator strength in this way. These extensions pave the way for using lc-TD-DFTB to describe the electronic structure of large chromophoric polymers, where uncorrected TD-DFTB fails to describe the high degree of conjugation and produces spurious low-lying charge transfer states.

Observed self-gravitating systems reveal often fragmented, non-equilibrium structures that feature characteristic long-range correlations. However, models accounting for non-linear structure growth are not always consistent with observations and a better understanding of self-gravitating N-body systems appears necessary. Because unstable gravitating systems are sensitive to non-gravitational perturbations, we study the effect of different dissipative factors as well as different small and large scale boundary conditions on idealized N-body systems. We find, in the interval of negative specific heat, equilibrium properties differing from theoretical predictions made for gravo-thermal systems, substantiating the importance of microscopic physics and the lack of consistent theoretical tools to describe self-gravitating gas. Also, in the interval of negative specific heat, yet outside of equilibrium, unforced systems fragment and establish transient long-range correlations. The strength of these correlations depends on the degree of granularity, which shows that the mass and force resolution should be coherent. Finally, persistent correlations appear in model systems subject to an energy flow.

We study the thermal transport properties of the one-dimensional Fermi-Pasta-Ulam model (β type) with long-range interactions. The strength of the long-range interaction decreases with the (shortest) distance between the lattice sites as distance-δ, where δ ≥0 . Two Langevin heat baths at unequal temperatures are connected to the ends of the one-dimensional lattice via short-range harmonic interactions that drive the system away from thermal equilibrium. In the nonequilibrium steady state the heat current, thermal conductivity, and temperature profiles are computed by solving the equations of motion numerically. It is found that the conductivity κ has an interesting nonmonotonic dependence with δ with a maximum at δ =2.0 for this model. Moreover, at δ =2.0 ,κ diverges almost linearly with system size N and the temperature profile has a negligible slope, as one expects in ballistic transport for an integrable system. We demonstrate that the nonmonotonic behavior of the conductivity and the nearly ballistic thermal transport at δ =2.0 obtained under nonequilibrium conditions can be explained consistently by studying the variation of largest Lyapunov exponent λmax with δ , and excess energy diffusion in the equilibrium microcanonical system.

Charged colloids and proteins in aqueous solutions interact via short-range attractions and long-range repulsions (SALR) and exhibit complex structural phases. These include homogeneously dispersed monomers, percolated monomers, clusters, and percolated clusters. We report the structural architectures of simple charged systems in the form of spherical, Keggin-type heteropolyanions (HPAs) by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Structure factors obtained from the SAXS measurements show that the HPAs interact via SALR. Concentration and temperature dependences of the structure factors for HPAs with –3e (e is the charge of an electron) charge are consistent with a mixture of nonassociated monomersmore » and associated randomly percolated monomers, whereas those for HPAs with –4e and –5e charges exhibit only nonassociated monomers in aqueous solutions. Our experiments show that the increase in magnitude of the charge of the HPAs increases their repulsive interactions and inhibits their aggregation in aqueous solutions. MD simulations were done to reveal the atomistic scale origins of SALR between HPAs. As a result, the short-range attractions result from water or proton-mediated hydrogen bonds between neighboring HPAs, whereas the long-range repulsions are due to the distributions of ions surrounding the HPAs.« less

Charged colloids and proteins in aqueous solutions interact via short-range attractions and long-range repulsions (SALR) and exhibit complex structural phases. These include homogeneously dispersed monomers, percolated monomers, clusters, and percolated clusters. We report the structural architectures of simple charged systems in the form of spherical, Keggin-type heteropolyanions (HPAs) by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Structure factors obtained from the SAXS measurements show that the HPAs interact via SALR. Concentration and temperature dependences of the structure factors for HPAs with –3e (e is the charge of an electron) charge are consistent with a mixture of nonassociated monomers and associated randomly percolated monomers, whereas those for HPAs with –4e and –5e charges exhibit only nonassociated monomers in aqueous solutions. Our experiments show that the increase in magnitude of the charge of the HPAs increases their repulsive interactions and inhibits their aggregation in aqueous solutions. MD simulations were done to reveal the atomistic scale origins of SALR between HPAs. As a result, the short-range attractions result from water or proton-mediated hydrogen bonds between neighboring HPAs, whereas the long-range repulsions are due to the distributions of ions surrounding the HPAs.

A one-dimensional long-range model of classical rotators with an extended degree of complexity, as compared to paradigmatic long-range systems, is introduced and studied. Working at constant density, in the thermodynamic limit one can prove the statistical equivalence with the Hamiltonian mean-field (HMF) model and α-HMF: a second-order phase transition is indeed observed at the critical energy threshold \\varepsilon_c=0.75 . Conversely, when the thermodynamic limit is performed at infinite density (while keeping the length of the hosting interval L constant), the critical energy \\varepsilonc is modulated as a function of L. At low energy, a self-organized collective crystal phase is reported to emerge, which converges to a perfect crystal in the limit ε → 0 . To analyze the phenomenon, the equilibrium one-particle density function is analytically computed by maximizing the entropy. The transition and the associated critical energy between the gaseous and the crystal phase is computed. Molecular dynamics show that the crystal phase is apparently split into two distinct regimes, depending on the energy per particle ε. For small ε, particles are exactly located on the lattice sites; above an energy threshold \\varepsilon{*} , particles can travel from one site to another. However, \\varepsilon{*} does not signal a phase transition but reflects the finite time of observation: the perfect crystal observed for \\varepsilon >0 corresponds to a long-lasting dynamical transient, whose lifetime increases when the \\varepsilon >0 approaches zero.

Bird flocks are a paradigmatic example of collective motion. One of the prominent traits of flocking is the presence of longrange velocity correlations between individuals, which allow them to influence each other over the large scales, keeping a high level of group coordination. A crucial question is to understand what is the mutual interaction between birds generating such nontrivial correlations. Here we use the maximum entropy (ME) approach to infer from experimental data of natural flocks the effective interactions between individuals. Compared to previous studies, we make a significant step forward as we retrieve the full functional dependence of the interaction on distance, and find that it decays exponentially over a range of a few individuals. The fact that ME gives a short-range interaction even though its experimental input is the long-range correlation function, shows that the method is able to discriminate the relevant information encoded in such correlations and single out a minimal number of effective parameters. Finally, we show how the method can be used to capture the degree of anisotropy of mutual interactions.

We perform computer simulations based on adhesive contact mechanics to demonstrate the clogging process of charged microparticles at the single-pore level. The effect of long-range Coulomb repulsion on clogging is characterized in terms of bulk permeability, the number of penetrating particles, and particle capture efficiency. Results indicate that the repulsion among particles delays or even totally prevents the formation of clogs. A clogging phase diagram, in the form of the driving pressure and a proposed charge parameter κq, is constructed to quantify the clogging-nonclogging transition. In addition, a critical state, where the capture efficiency of particles decreases to its minimum, is identified as a clogging-nonclogging criterion for repulsive particles. The distributions of the local volume fraction show that the structure of clogs is mainly determined by short-range adhesion. With relatively strong adhesion, a loose clog will be formed and it is easier for particles to penetrate. Finally, a schematic representation of the clogging process, considering both long-range repulsion and adhesion, is proposed to show the relationship between the clogging results and the interparticle interactions.

Although the importance of long-range connections for cortical information processing has been acknowledged for a long time, most studies focused on the long-range interactions between excitatory cortical neurons. Inhibitory interneurons play an important role in cortical computation and have thus far been studied mainly with respect to their local synaptic interactions within the cortical microcircuitry. A recent study showed that long-range excitatory connections onto Martinotti cells (MC) mediate surround suppression. Here we have extended our previously reported attractor network of pyramidal cells (PC) and MC by introducing long-range connections targeting MC. We have demonstrated how the network with Martinotti cell-mediated long-range inhibition gives rise to surround suppression and also promotes saliency of locations at which simple non-uniformities in the stimulus field are introduced. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that the presynaptic dynamics of MC is only ancillary to its orientation tuning property in enabling the network with saliency detection. Lastly, we have also implemented a disinhibitory pathway mediated by another interneuron type (VIP interneurons), which inhibits MC and abolishes surround suppression. PMID:26528143

The scaling of the bond-bond correlation function P1(s) along linear polymer chains is investigated with respect to the curvilinear distance s along the flexible chain and the monomer density ρ via Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. Surprisingly, the correlations in dense three-dimensional solutions are found to decay with a power law P1(s)˜s-ω with ω=3/2 and the exponential behavior commonly assumed is clearly ruled out for long chains. In semidilute solutions, the density dependent scaling of P1(s)≈g-ω0(s/g)-ω with ω0=2-2ν=0.824 (ν=0.588 being Flory's exponent) is set by the number of monomers g(ρ) in an excluded volume blob. Our computational findings compare well with simple scaling arguments and perturbation calculation. The power-law behavior is due to self-interactions of chains caused by the chain connectivity and the incompressibility of the melt.

Most studies of energy supply and demand ignore either global inter-dependence or the long time spans necessary to adjust to new energy sources. The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis has therefore studied on a global scale, for seven major world regions, the balance between energy supply and demand for the next 50 years. Reported here are the results for two benchmark scenarios. In the "low" scenario world energy consumption increases from today's 8.2 terawatt-year per year to 22 terawatt-year per year in 2030; in the "high" scenario, consumption increases to 35 terawatt-year per year. The study showed that time will be the limiting constraint in adapting the energy supply infrastructure to changing resource availability; resources will be available until the second half of the next century, but a strong shift will be required to low-grade fossil fuels such as shale oil and tar sands. Each scenario studied indicated increased environmental problems associated with increased use of fossil fuels, and potential geopolitical problems associated with the world distribution of resources.

The present study investigated the relationship between verbal and visuospatial working memory (WM) capacity and long-range regression (i.e., word relocation) processes in reading. We analyzed eye movements during a “whodunit task”, in which readers were asked to answer a content question while original text was being presented. The eye movements were more efficient in relocating a target word when the target was at recency positions within the text than when it was at primacy positions. Furthermore, both verbal and visuospatial WM capacity partly predicted the efficiency of the initial long-range regression. The results indicate that WM representations have a strong influence at the first stage of long-range regression by driving the first saccade movement toward the correct target position, suggesting that there is a dynamic interaction between internal WM representations and external actions during text reading. PMID:25324760

In this paper, we investigate the traffic time series for volume data observed on the Guangshen highway. We introduce a multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis based on fractal fitting (MFDFA-FF), which is one of the most effective methods to detect long-range correlations of time series. Through effective detecting of long-range correlations, highway volume can be predicted more accurately. In order to get a better detrend effect, we use fractal fitting to replace polynomial fitting in detrend process, the result shows that fractal fitting can get a better detrend effect than polynomial fitting and the MFDFA-FF method can achieve a more accurate research result. Then we introduce the Legendre spectrum to detect the multifractal property characterized by the long-range correlation and multifractality of Guangshen highway volume data.

Long-range electron transfer (ET) is a crucial step in many energy conversion processes and biological redox reactions in living organisms. We show that newly developed X-ray pulses can directly probe the evolving oxidation states and the electronic structure around selected atoms with detail not available through conventional time-resolved infrared or optical techniques. This is demonstrated in a simulation study of the stimulated X-ray Raman (SXRS) signals in Re-modified azurin, which serves as a benchmark system for photoinduced ET in proteins. Nonlinear SXRS signals offer a direct novel window into the long-range ET mechanism. PMID:25400875

Over the course of the operational life of Space Station Freedom (SSF), technologies used for spacecraft design and use will advance. In some cases, such as data management, components or systems initially incorporated in the design may become obsolete in a relatively short period of time. In order to assure that SSF can benefit from new technologies, beneficial technologies must be identified, development of beneficial technologies must be tracked and advocated where appropriate, the design must accommodate technology upgrades, and a process for transferring technologies into the flight program must be implemented. The NASA Office of Space Flight, in coordination with the SSF program, has developed a consolidated listing of high priority technology requirements in support of overall Agency technology development planning. Included in this list are technologies which support increased utilization of SSF, enhance crew safety or productivity, or reduce operations costs. Efforts to ensure development of these technologies have begun, and a mechanism for technology transfer has been developed.

Wind turbines extract energy from the freestream flow, resulting in a waked region behind the rotor which is characterized by reduced wind speed and increased turbulence. The velocity deficit in the wake diminishes with distance, as faster-moving air outside is gradually entrained. In a concentrated group of turbines, then, downwind machines experience very different inflow conditions compared to those in the front row. As utility-scale turbines rarely exist in isolation, detailed knowledge of the mean flow and turbulence structure inside wakes is needed to correctly model both power production and turbine loading at modern wind farms. To this end, the Turbine Wake and Inflow Characterization Study (TWICS) was conducted in the spring of 2011 to determine the reduction in wind speeds downstream from a multi-MW turbine located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) near Boulder, Colorado. Full-scale measurements of wake dynamics are hardly practical or even possible with conventional sensors, such as cup anemometers mounted on meteorological (met) masts. Accordingly, the High Resolution Doppler Lidar (HRDL) developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory was employed to investigate the formation and propagation of wakes under varying levels of ambient wind speed, shear, atmospheric stability, and turbulence. HRDL remotely senses line-of-sight wind velocities and has been used in several previous studies of boundary layer aerodynamics. With a fully steerable beam and a maximum range up to about 5 km, depending on atmospheric conditions, HRDL performed a comprehensive survey of the wind flow in front of and behind the turbine to study the shape, meandering, and attenuation of wakes. Due in large part to limited experimental data availability, wind farm wake modeling is still subject to an unacceptable amount of uncertainty, particularly in complex terrain. Here, analytical

Coordinated gene expression controlled by long-distance enhancers is orchestrated by DNA regulatory sequences involving transcription factors and layers of control mechanisms. The Shh gene and well-established regulators are an example of genomic composition in which enhancers reside in a large desert extending into neighbouring genes to control the spatiotemporal pattern of expression. Exploiting the local hopping activity of the Sleeping Beauty transposon, the lacZ reporter gene was dispersed throughout the Shh region to systematically map the genomic features responsible for expression activity. We found that enhancer activities are retained inside a genomic region that corresponds to the topological associated domain (TAD) defined by Hi-C. This domain of approximately 900 kb is in an open conformation over its length and is generally susceptible to all Shh enhancers. Similar to the distal enhancers, an enhancer residing within the Shh second intron activates the reporter gene located at distances of hundreds of kilobases away, suggesting that both proximal and distal enhancers have the capacity to survey the Shh topological domain to recognise potential promoters. The widely expressed Rnf32 gene lying within the Shh domain evades enhancer activities by a process that may be common among other housekeeping genes that reside in large regulatory domains. Finally, the boundaries of the Shh TAD do not represent the absolute expression limits of enhancer activity, as expression activity is lost stepwise at a number of genomic positions at the verges of these domains. PMID:25252942

The controlled transfer of particles from one site of a spatial lattice to another is essential for many tasks in quantum information processing and quantum communication. In this work we study how to induce long-range transfer between the two ends of a dimer chain, by coupling states that are localized just on the chain’s end-points. This has the appealing feature that the transfer occurs only between the end-points – the particle does not pass through the intermediate sites–making the transfer less susceptible to decoherence. We first show how a repulsively bound-pair of fermions, known as a doublon, can be transferred from one end of the chain to the other via topological edge states. We then show how non-topological surface states of the familiar Shockley or Tamm type can be used to produce a similar form of transfer under the action of a periodic driving potential. Finally we show that combining these effects can produce transfer by means of more exotic topological effects, in which the driving field can be used to switch the topological character of the edge states, as measured by the Zak phase. Our results demonstrate how to induce longrange transfer of strongly correlated particles by tuning both topology and driving. PMID:26932406

An advanced design and implementation of a Control Architecture for LongRange Autonomous Planetary Rovers is presented using a hierarchical top-down task decomposition, and the common structure of each design is presented based on feedback control theory. Graphical programming is presented as a common intuitive language for the design when a large design team is composed of managers, architecture designers, engineers, programmers, and maintenance personnel. The whole design of the control architecture consists in the classic control concepts of cyclic data processing and event-driven reaction to achieve all the reasoning and behaviors needed. For this purpose, a commercial graphical tool is presented that includes the mentioned control capabilities. Messages queues are used for inter-communication among control functions, allowing Artificial Intelligence (AI) reasoning techniques based on queue manipulation. Experimental results show a highly autonomous control system running in real time on top the JPL micro-rover Rocky 7 controlling simultaneously several robotic devices. This paper validates the sinergy between Artificial Intelligence and classic control concepts in having in advanced Control Architecture for LongRange Autonomous Planetary Rovers.

We propose and numerically investigate an efficient method for long-range third-harmonic generation (THG) of propagating surface plasmon polaritons (SPP) waves on graphene sheets for nonlinear plasmonic purposes in the terahertz (THZ) gap region of the electromagnetic spectrum via a developed nonlinear finite-difference time-domain technique. We reveal that although extended and unmodulated graphene sheets with low Fermi levels can offer high-conversion efficiency (CE) for SPP THG at short distances, suitable for miniaturized plasmonic circuits, they suffer from inherent absorption loss induced by graphene that noticeably reduces the CE of the THG at longranges. We suggest a structure benefiting from low Fermi-level graphene regions of strong nonlinear response as oscillators and high Fermi-level ones of low loss as a propagating medium in a periodic manner, which satisfies the quasi-phase matching condition and shows considerable efficiency improvement at long propagation distances. We predict that such a configuration can find valuable potential applications in the realm of nonlinear THz plasmonics for generating new frequencies and also in spectroscopy, signal processing, and so on.

Longrange regulatory interactions among distal enhancers and target genes are important for tissue-specific gene expression. Genome-scale identification of these interactions in a cell line-specific manner, especially using the fewest possible datasets, is a significant challenge. We develop a novel computational approach, Regulatory Interaction Prediction for Promoters and Long-range Enhancers (RIPPLE), that integrates published Chromosome Conformation Capture (3C) data sets with a minimal set of regulatory genomic data sets to predict enhancer-promoter interactions in a cell line-specific manner. Our results suggest that CTCF, RAD21, a general transcription factor (TBP) and activating chromatin marks are important determinants of enhancer-promoter interactions. To predict interactions in a new cell line and to generate genome-wide interaction maps, we develop an ensemble version of RIPPLE and apply it to generate interactions in five human cell lines. Computational validation of these predictions using existing ChIA-PET and Hi-C data sets showed that RIPPLE accurately predicts interactions among enhancers and promoters. Enhancer-promoter interactions tend to be organized into subnetworks representing coordinately regulated sets of genes that are enriched for specific biological processes and cis-regulatory elements. Overall, our work provides a systematic approach to predict and interpret enhancer-promoter interactions in a genome-wide cell-type specific manner using a few experimentally tractable measurements. PMID:26338778

Neurons in primary visual cortex respond selectively to oriented stimuli such as edges and lines. The long-range horizontal connections between them are thought to facilitate contour integration. While many physiological and psychophysical findings suggest that collinear or association field models of good continuation dictate particular projection patterns of horizontal connections to guide this integration process, significant evidence of interactions inconsistent with these hypotheses is accumulating. We first show that natural random variations around the collinear and association field models cannot account for these inconsistencies, a fact that motivates the search for more principled explanations. We then develop a model of long-range projection fields that formalizes good continuation based on differential geometry. The analysis implicates curvature(s) in a fundamental way, and the resulting model explains both consistent data and apparent outliers. It quantitatively predicts the (typically ignored) spread in projection distribution, its nonmonotonic variance, and the differences found among individual neurons. Surprisingly, and for the first time, this model also indicates that texture (and shading) continuation can serve as alternative and complementary functional explanations to contour integration. Because current anatomical data support both (curve and texture) integration models equally and because both are important computationally, new testable predictions are derived to allow their differentiation and identification.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often described as a disorder of aberrant neural connectivity. Although it is important to study the pathophysiology of ASD in the developing cortex, the functional connectivity in the brains of young children with ASD has not been well studied. In this study, brain activity was measured non-invasively during consciousness in 50 young human children with ASD and 50 age- and gender-matched typically developing human (TD) children. We employed a custom child-sized magnetoencephalography (MEG) system in which sensors were located as close to the brain as possible for optimal recording in young children. We focused on theta band oscillations because they are thought to be involved in long-range networks associated with higher cognitive processes. The ASD group showed significantly reduced connectivity between the left-anterior and the right-posterior areas, exhibiting a decrease in the coherence of theta band (6 Hz) oscillations compared with the TD group. This reduction in coherence was significantly correlated with clinical severity in right-handed children with ASD. This is the first study to demonstrate reduced long-range functional connectivity in conscious young children with ASD using a novel MEG approach. PMID:24652855

The longrange facilities planning (LRFP) process presents a wonderful opportunity for New Jersey's school districts to re-examine and strengthen their long term planning for educational adequacy in 21st century school facilities. It provides an opportunity for districts to work closely with the special education community to ensure that New…

Over the last years, automation for tunnel construction and mining activities increased rapidly. To allow for enhanced tunneling measurement, monitoring of workers and remote control of machines, systems are required that are capable of real-time positioning of several static as well as moving targets. Such a system must provide continuous and precise 3D position estimation in large volumes and must be capable to be installed and work correctly during on-going tunneling or mining tasks. Tracking systems are a fundamental component of a VR system to determine the 3D-position and orientation of a target in 3D space. Infrared optical tracking systems use infrared light to track several static or moving targets simultaneously with low latency in small tracking volumes. To benefit from the capabilities of infrared optical tracking, a system is proposed to track static as well as moving optical targets in large tracking volumes with a maximum depth extend of 70 meters. Our system needs a minimal hardware setup consisting out of two high quality machine vision cameras, which are mounted on both walls of the tunnel, and a standard (portable) workstation for data processing. Targets are equipped with infrared LEDs and can be either carried by workers or attached to a machine. The two cameras form a stereo rig and face into the measurement volume to allow for continuous tracking. Using image processing techniques, the LEDs of the target(s) are detected in both 2D camera images and are back-projected into 3D using projective reconstruction algorithms. Thereby, the 3D position estimate of the target is determined. Using image filtering techniques, fitting methods based on target's geometric constraints and prediction heuristics, the system allows for unique target identification during calibration and tracking even in environments with heavy interferences such as vibrations, tunnel illumination or machine lights. We extensively tested the system to (1) determine optimal

We present algorithm evaluations for ATR of small sea vessels. The targets are at km distance from the sensors, which means that the algorithms have to deal with images affected by turbulence and mirage phenomena. We evaluate previously developed algorithms for registration of 3D-generating laser radar data. The evaluations indicate that some robustness to turbulence and mirage induced uncertainties can be handled by our probabilistic-based registration method. We also assess methods for target classification and target recognition on these new 3D data. An algorithm for detecting moving vessels in infrared image sequences is presented; it is based on optical flow estimation. Detection of moving target with an unknown spectral signature in a maritime environment is a challenging problem due to camera motion, background clutter, turbulence and the presence of mirage. First, the optical flow caused by the camera motion is eliminated by estimating the global flow in the image. Second, connected regions containing significant motions that differ from camera motion is extracted. It is assumed that motion caused by a moving vessel is more temporally stable than motion caused by mirage or turbulence. Furthermore, it is assumed that the motion caused by the vessel is more homogenous with respect to both magnitude and orientation, than motion caused by mirage and turbulence. Sufficiently large connected regions with a flow of acceptable magnitude and orientation are considered target regions. The method is evaluated on newly collected sequences of SWIR and MWIR images, with varying targets, target ranges and background clutter. Finally we discuss a concept for combining passive and active imaging in an ATR process. The main steps are passive imaging for target detection, active imaging for target/background segmentation and a fusion of passive and active imaging for target recognition.

We take a two-step theoretical approach to study magnetism of rare-earth quasicrystals by considering Ising spins on quasiperiodic tilings, coupled via Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interactions. First, we compute RKKY interactions from a tight-binding Hamiltonian defined on the two-dimensional quasiperiodic tilings. We find that the magnetic interactions are frustrated and strongly dependent on the local environment. This results in the formation of clusters with strong bonds at certain patterns of the tilings that repeat quasiperiodically. Second, we examine the statistical mechanics of Ising spins with these RKKY interactions, using extensive Monte Carlo simulations. Although models that have frustrated interactions and lack translational invariance might be expected to display spin-glass behavior, we show that the spin system has a phase transition to low-temperature states with long-range quasiperiodic magnetic order. Additionally, we find that in some of the systems spin clusters can fluctuate much below the ordering temperature.

Consideration is given to an attenuated total reflection prism-coupling geometry used to excite surface-plasmon waves along a metal film, bounded by a substrate with an intensity-dependent dielectric constant. Nonlinear wave theory is developed in the infinite incident plane-wave approximation, assuming a dielectric constant proportional to the square of the electric field normal to the film. The intensity required to observe bistability in the reflected intensity by excitation of the nonlinear, long-range surface plasmon is calculated and found to be 2 orders of magnitude less than that required for the nonlinear, single-surface plasmon. The nonlinear wave analysis is compared with other approaches and the effects of the sign of the nonlinearity and of a nonlinear coupling layer are illustrated.

Using extended dynamical mean-field theory and its combination with the G W approximation, we compute the phase diagrams and local spectral functions of the single-band extended Hubbard model on the square and simple cubic lattices, considering long-range interactions up to the third nearest neighbors. The longer-range interactions shift the boundaries between the metallic, charge-ordered insulating, and Mott insulating phases, and lead to characteristic changes in the screening modes and local spectral functions. Momentum-dependent self-energy contributions enhance the correlation effects and thus compete with the additional screening effect from longer-range Coulomb interactions. Our results suggest that the influence of longer-range intersite interactions is significant, and that these effects deserve attention in realistic studies of correlated materials.

Dynamical properties of lattice systems with long-range pair interactions, decaying like 1/r(α) with the distance r, are investigated, in particular the time scales governing the relaxation to equilibrium. Upon varying the interaction range α, we find evidence for the existence of a threshold at α=d/2, dependent on the spatial dimension d, at which the relaxation behavior changes qualitatively and the corresponding scaling exponents switch to a different regime. Based on analytical as well as numerical observations in systems of vastly differing nature, ranging from quantum to classical, from ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic, and including a variety of lattice structures, we conjecture this threshold and some of its characteristic properties to be universal.

Several variable geometry high Mach inlet concepts, aimed at meeting a system noise objective of 15 EPNdB below FAR part 36, for a longrange, Mach 0.9 advanced commercial transport are assessed and compared to a fixed geometry inlet with multiple splitters. The effects of a variable exhaust nozzle (mixed exhaust engine) on noise, inlet geometry requirements, and economics are also presented. The best variable geometry inlet configuration identified is a variable cowl design which relies on a high throat Mach number for additional inlet noise suppression only at takeoff, and depends entirely on inlet wall treatment for noise suppression at approach power. Relative economic penalties as a function of noise level are also presented.

The motto of this paper is: Let's face Bose-Einstein condensation through nonlinear dynamics. We do this by choosing variational forms of the condensate wave functions (of given symmetry classes), which convert the Bose-Einstein condensates via the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation into Hamiltonian systems that can be studied using the methods of nonlinear dynamics. We consider in particular cold quantum gases where long-range interactions between the neutral atoms are present, in addition to the conventional short-range contact interaction, viz. gravity-like interactions, and dipole-dipole interactions. The results obtained serve as a useful guide in the search for nonlinear dynamics effects in numerically exact quantum calculations for Bose-Einstein condensates. A main result is the prediction of the existence of stable islands as well as chaotic regions for excited states of dipolar condensates, which could be checked experimentally.

The essential increase of propagation length of a longrange surface plasmon polariton in a thin symmetrically corrugated plasmon-carrying film embedded in a dielectric medium is theoretically predicted. The calculations are based on the differential formalism for the system of Maxwells equations where the solution for electromagnetic fields is written as a superposition of partial plane waves in the presentation of a curvilinear non-orthogonal coordinates system for simplifying the boundary conditions. The spectral and angular dependencies of p-polarized light transmittance/reflectance demonstrate that the in-plane shift between both profiles of corrugated film drastically changes the surface plasmon polariton propagation length from minimum of the asymmetric profile to maximum of the symmetric one. The obtained results were qualitatively explained using the model of weakly coupled photonic wells.

We systematically investigate the optical extinction spectra of planar gold split-ring-resonator square arrays operating at ˜200-THz frequency versus the lattice constant and versus angle of incidence. We find a strong dependence of the resonance damping on the in-plane wave vector, namely, the resonance damping increases (decreases) versus the in-plane wave vector for small lattice constants (large lattice constants). By comparison with two simple one-dimensional models as well as with more complete numerical calculations, this behavior is interpreted in terms of a long-range retarded interaction among the split-ring resonators. In contrast, the assumptions of only nearest-neighbor interaction and/or of an instantaneous interaction lead to a striking disagreement with the overall experimental facts.

We investigate the laws that rule the behavior of the largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE) in many particle systems with long-range interactions. We consider as a representative system the so-called Hamiltonian alpha-XY model where the adjustable parameter alpha controls the range of the interactions of N ferromagnetic spins in a lattice of dimension d. In previous work the dependence of the LLE with the system size N, for sufficiently high energies, was established through numerical simulations. In the thermodynamic limit, the LLE becomes constant for alpha>d whereas it decays as an inverse power law of N for alpha

Aerosols play a profound role in impacting cloud properties and precipitation processes. Some studies suggest air pollution aerosols suppress orographic precipitation, whereas other studies show a precipitation enhancement during periods with longrange dust transport. To gain a more complete understanding of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions, we have performed two field studies, CalWater and ICE-T, probing clouds over California and the Caribbean. Ground and aircraft measurements were used to characterize the sources of aerosols seeding clouds and the resulting impact on cloud microphysics. This presentation will focus on how dust and biological aerosols transported from the Sahara, Middle East, and Asia appeared in glaciated high-altitude clouds coincident with elevated ice nuclei (IN) concentrations. Our results suggest that dust and biological IN are persistent components of the upper atmosphere and thus could be playing important roles in affecting orographic precipitation processes over many regions of the world.

Gravity-dependent transport phenomena in various industrial processes are investigated in order to address a broader range of microgravity phenomena and to develop new applications of microgravity. A number of important topics are identified and analyzed in detail. The present article describes results on coating flow, zeolite growth, and rotating electrochemical system.

scanner Riegl VZ-4000 was applied. This TLS scanner has a very longrange of up to 4000 m. The TLS scan positions were located from 0.5 km to 2-3 km from the research objects (depending on the position), on the opposite river bank or valley side. A point cloud of three to four scan positions was made for each landslide. The scans were performed at a maximum resolution of 0.002°. During the merging of each point cloud the Riegl Multi Station Adjustment tool was used for the automatic fine adjustment and alignment. The scan positions and georeferences were registered using the global coordinates with an integrated RTK GPS receiver. After three campaigns based on the collected data from the ALS and TLS scanning and previous filtration a digital terrain model was created. The obtained model was compared in the GIS software in order to assess the changes in the terrain morphology resulting from the geodynamic processes. This study was supported by the Virtual Institute of Integrated Climate and Landscape Evolution (ICLEA) of the Helmholtz Association.

A large amount of desert aerosol is transported in the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) westwards from Africa over the Atlantic Ocean. Lidar profiles of transported Saharan aerosol may contain some information about the vertically-resolved aerosol microphysics that could be used to characterize processes that affected the measured aerosol during transport. We present modelled lidar profiles of long-range transported Saharan aerosol assuming that initially the SAL is well-mixed and that there is no vertical mixing of air within the SAL as soon as it reaches the Atlantic. We consider Stokes gravitational settling of aerosol particles over the ocean. The lidar profiles are calculated using optical models for irregularly-shaped mineral dust particles assuming settling-induced particle removal as function of distance from the SAL top. Within the SAL we find a decrease of both the backscatter coefficients and the linear depolarization ratios with decreasing distance from the SAL top. For example, the linear depolarization ratio at a wavelength of 532nm decreases from 0.289 at 1000m to 0.256 at 200m and 0.215 at 100m below SAL top. We compare the modelled backscatter coefficients and linear depolarization ratios to ground-based lidar measurements performed during the SALTRACE field campaign in Barbados (Caribbean) and find agreement within the estimated uncertainties. We discuss the uncertainties of our modeling approach in our presentation. Assumed mineral dust particle shapes, assumed particle mixture properties, and assumptions about processes in the SAL over the continent and the ocean are important aspects to be considered. Uncertainties are relevant for the potential of lidar measurements of transported Saharan dust to learn something about processes occuring in the SAL during long-range transport. We also compare our modeling results to modeling results previously published in the literature.

We discuss the field of long-range solar activity predictions and provide an outlook into future solar activity. Orbital predictions for satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) depend strongly on exospheric densities. Solar activity forecasting is important in this regard, as the solar ultra-violet (UV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiations inflate the upper atmospheric layers of the Earth, forming the exosphere in which satellites orbit. Rather than concentrate on statistical, or numerical methods, we utilize a class of techniques (precursor methods) which is founded in physical theory. The geomagnetic precursor method was originally developed by the Russian geophysicist, Ohl, using geomagnetic observations to predict future solar activity. It was later extended to solar observations, and placed within the context of physical theory, namely the workings of the Sun s Babcock dynamo. We later expanded the prediction methods with a SOlar Dynamo Amplitude (SODA) index. The SODA index is a measure of the buried solar magnetic flux, using toroidal and poloidal field components. It allows one to predict future solar activity during any phase of the solar cycle, whereas previously, one was restricted to making predictions only at solar minimum. We are encouraged that solar cycle #23's behavior fell closely along our predicted curve, peaking near 192, comparable to the Schatten, Myers and Sofia (1996) forecast of 182+/-30. Cycle #23 extends from 1996 through approximately 2006 or 2007, with cycle #24 starting thereafter. We discuss the current forecast of solar cycle #24, (2006-2016), with a predicted smoothed F10.7 radio flux of 142+/-28 (1-sigma errors). This, we believe, represents a reprieve, in terms of reduced fuel costs, etc., for new satellites to be launched or old satellites (requiring reboosting) which have been placed in LEO. By monitoring the Sun s most deeply rooted magnetic fields; long-range solar activity can be predicted. Although a degree of uncertainty

Thin-film polycrystalline semiconductors are currently at the forefront of inexpensive large-area solar cell and integrated circuit technologies because of their reduced processing and substrate selection constraints. Understanding the extent to which structural and electronic defects influence carrier transport in these materials is critical to controlling the optoelectronic properties, yet many measurement techniques are only capable of indirectly probing their effects. Here we apply a novel photoluminescence imaging technique to directly observe the low temperature diffusion of photocarriers through and across defect states in polycrystalline CdTe thin films. Our measurements show that an inhomogeneous distribution of localized defect states mediates long-range hole transport across multiple grain boundaries to locations exceeding 10 μm from the point of photogeneration. These results provide new insight into the key role deep trap states have in low temperature carrier transport in polycrystalline CdTe by revealing their propensity to act as networks for hopping conduction.

Thin-film polycrystalline semiconductors are currently at the forefront of inexpensive large-area solar cell and integrated circuit technologies because of their reduced processing and substrate selection constraints. Understanding the extent to which structural and electronic defects influence carrier transport in these materials is critical to controlling the optoelectronic properties, yet many measurement techniques are only capable of indirectly probing their effects. Here we apply a novel photoluminescence imaging technique to directly observe the low temperature diffusion of photocarriers through and across defect states in polycrystalline CdTe thin films. Our measurements show that an inhomogeneous distribution of localized defect states mediates long-range hole transport across multiple grain boundaries to locations exceeding 10 μm from the point of photogeneration. These results provide new insight into the key role deep trap states have in low temperature carrier transport in polycrystalline CdTe by revealing their propensity to act as networks for hopping conduction.

The hopping model for cargo transport by molecular motors introduced in Goldman and Sena (2009), Goldman (2010) is extended here in order to incorporate the movement of cargo-motor complexes (C-MC). Hopping processes in this context express the possibility for cargo to be exchanged between neighboring motors at a microtubule where the transport takes place. Jamming of motors is essential for cargos to execute long-range movement in this way. Results from computer simulations accompanied by a mean-field analysis of the extended model confirm our previous analytical results and suggests that an interplay between cargo hopping and the movement of the C-MC’s would control the efficiency of cargo transfer and cargo delivery in these model systems.

Thin-film polycrystalline semiconductors are currently at the forefront of inexpensive large-area solar cell and integrated circuit technologies because of their reduced processing and substrate selection constraints. Understanding the extent to which structural and electronic defects influence carrier transport in these materials is critical to controlling the optoelectronic properties, yet many measurement techniques are only capable of indirectly probing their effects. Here we apply a novel photoluminescence imaging technique to directly observe the low temperature diffusion of photocarriers through and across defect states in polycrystalline CdTe thin films. Our measurements show that an inhomogeneous distribution of localized defect states mediates long-range hole transport across multiple grain boundaries to locations exceeding 10 μm from the point of photogeneration. These results provide new insight into the key role deep trap states have in low temperature carrier transport in polycrystalline CdTe by revealing their propensity to act as networks for hopping conduction. PMID:24158163

Cortical gamma oscillations in the 20- to 80-Hz range are associated with attentiveness and sensory perception and have strong connections to both cognitive processing and temporal binding of sensory stimuli. These gamma oscillations become synchronized within a few milliseconds over distances spanning a few millimeters in spite of synaptic delays. In this study using in vivo recordings and large-scale cortical network models, we reveal a critical role played by the network geometry in achieving precise long-range synchronization in the gamma frequency band. Our results indicate that the presence of many independent synaptic pathways in a two-dimensional network facilitate precise phase synchronization of fast gamma band oscillations with nearly zero phase delays between remote network sites. These findings predict a common mechanism of precise oscillatory synchronization in neuronal networks. PMID:18632897

Understanding the causal relation between neural inputs and movements is very important for the success of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs). In this study, we analyze 104 neurons’ firings using statistical, information theoretic, and fractal analysis. The latter include Fano factor analysis, multifractal adaptive fractal analysis (MF-AFA), and wavelet multifractal analysis. We find neuronal firings are highly non-stationary, and Fano factor analysis always indicates long-range correlations in neuronal firings, irrespective of whether those firings are correlated with movement trajectory or not, and thus does not reveal any actual correlations between neural inputs and movements. On the other hand, MF-AFA and wavelet multifractal analysis clearly indicate that when neuronal firings are not well correlated with movement trajectory, they do not have or only have weak temporal correlations. When neuronal firings are well correlated with movements, they are characterized by very strong temporal correlations, up to a time scale comparable to the average time between two successive reaching tasks. This suggests that neurons well correlated with hand trajectory experienced a “re-setting” effect at the start of each reaching task, in the sense that within the movement correlated neurons the spike trains’ long-rangedependences persisted about the length of time the monkey used to switch between task executions. A new task execution re-sets their activity, making them only weakly correlated with their prior activities on longer time scales. We further discuss the significance of the coalition of those important neurons in executing cortical control of prostheses. PMID:24130549

Taking correctly into account longranged interactions in molecular simulations of molecular models based on classical atomistic representations are essential to obtain reliable results on model systems and in simulations of biological systems. A lot of numerical methods have been developed to this end; the most important of them are reviewed in this paper. Particular attention is paid to the analytical relations between the methods, this allows comparisons on efficiency and accuracy between them and also to proceed to precise implementations of these techniques. While most of the methods have been developed for Coulomb interactions, we give also some analytical details to apply these methods to screened Coulomb (Yukawa interactions), inverse power law and dipolar interactions. Particular types of systems, the quasi-2D systems, are also considered in this paper. Quasi-2D systems represent a large class of physical systems where the spatial extension in one direction of the space is very small by comparison to the other two. These representations are very useful to describe the properties of interfaces, surfaces, fluids confined in slab geometry, etc. In computer simulations, these systems are studied with partial periodic boundary conditions: periodic boundary conditions are taken in directions where spatial extensions are large and some other boundary conditions are taken in directions with smaller extensions. In this review, we describe also the numerical methods developed to handle longranged interactions in numerical simulations of quasi-2D systems. The properties of quasi-2D systems depend strongly on interactions between components; more specifically electrostatic and magnetic interactions and interactions with external fields are of particular interest in these systems.

insights into the contributions of nitrate sources to Summit. There are several important implications of this work including that nitrate at Summit appears to be largely preserved in surface snow during photoactive periods, and that nitrate in snow at Summit also appears to be representative of long-range transported nitrate/NOx. The surface snow work is further substantiated by relationships found between and among seasonally-resolved ice core measurements of the isotopic composition of nitrate, nitrate concentration and a suite of chemical and elemental tracers. The seasonality observed in 15N/14N ratios in an ice core representing accumulation since 1760 C.E. cannot be explained by diffusion or other processes occurring in the firn over time. A marked negative trend in 15N/14N since industrialization, parallels a nearly three-fold increase in nitrate concentration as well as pronounced increases in tracers such as excess lead and non-sea-salt sulfur. This, along with independent estimates of oil burning and transport studies, indicate that North American oil combustion is the primary driver of the modern negative trend in 15N/14N of nitrate. The high, positive 15N/14N ratios found in pre-industrial ice link to biomass burning based upon concentrations of black carbon and ammonium.

Frontal and temporal language areas involved in syntactic processing are connected by several dorsal and ventral tracts, but the functional roles of the different tracts are not well understood. To identify which white matter tract(s) are important for syntactic processing, we examined the relationship between white matter damage and syntactic deficits in patients with primary progressive aphasia, using multimodal neuroimaging and neurolinguistic assessment. Diffusion tensor imaging showed that microstructural damage to left hemisphere dorsal tracts--the superior longitudinal fasciculus including its arcuate component--was strongly associated with deficits in comprehension and production of syntax. Damage to these dorsal tracts predicted syntactic deficits after gray matter atrophy was taken into account, and fMRI confirmed that these tracts connect regions modulated by syntactic processing. In contrast, damage to ventral tracts--the extreme capsule fiber system or the uncinate fasciculus--was not associated with syntactic deficits. Our findings show that syntactic processingdepends primarily on dorsal language tracts.

Large amplitude slow waves are characteristic for the summary brain activity, recorded as electroencephalogram (EEG) or local field potentials (LFP), during deep stages of sleep and some types of anesthesia. Slow rhythm of the synchronized EEG reflects an alternation of active (depolarized, UP) and silent (hyperpolarized, DOWN) states of neocortical neurons. In neurons, involvement in the generalized slow oscillation results in a long-range synchronization of changes of their membrane potential as well as their firing. Here, we aimed at intracellular analysis of details of this synchronization. We asked which components of neuronal activity exhibit long-range correlations during the synchronized EEG? To answer this question, we made simultaneous intracellular recordings from two to four neocortical neurons in cat neocortex. We studied how correlated is the occurrence of active and silent states, and how correlated are fluctuations of the membrane potential in pairs of neurons located close one to the other or separated by up to 13 mm. We show that strong long-range correlation of the membrane potential was observed only (i) during the slow oscillation but not during periods without the oscillation, (ii) during periods which included transitions between the states but not during within-the-state periods, and (iii) for the low-frequency (<5 Hz) components of membrane potential fluctuations but not for the higher-frequency components (>10 Hz). In contrast to the neurons located several millimeters one from the other, membrane potential fluctuations in neighboring neurons remain strongly correlated during periods without slow oscillation. We conclude that membrane potential correlation in distant neurons is brought about by synchronous transitions between the states, while activity within the states is largely uncorrelated. The lack of the generalized fine-scale synchronization of membrane potential changes in neurons during the active states of slow oscillation may

The size-dependent energy bandgaps of semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) can be utilized in converting broadband incident radiation efficiently into electric current by cascade energy transfer (ET) between layers of different sized quantum dots, followed by charge dissociation and transport in the bottom layer. Self-assembling such cascade structures with angstrom-scale spatial precision is important for building realistic devices, and DNA-based QD self-assembly can provide an important alternative. Here we show long-range Dexter energy transfer in QD-DNA self-assembled single constructs and ensemble devices. Using photoluminescence, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, current-sensing AFM measurements in single QD-DNA cascade constructs, and temperature-dependent ensemble devices using TiO2 nanotubes, we show that Dexter energy transfer, likely mediated by the exciton-shelves formed in these QD-DNA self-assembled structures, can be used for efficient transport of energy across QD-DNA thin films.The size-dependent energy bandgaps of semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) can be utilized in converting broadband incident radiation efficiently into electric current by cascade energy transfer (ET) between layers of different sized quantum dots, followed by charge dissociation and transport in the bottom layer. Self-assembling such cascade structures with angstrom-scale spatial precision is important for building realistic devices, and DNA-based QD self-assembly can provide an important alternative. Here we show long-range Dexter energy transfer in QD-DNA self-assembled single constructs and ensemble devices. Using photoluminescence, scanning tunneling spectroscopy, current-sensing AFM measurements in single QD-DNA cascade constructs, and temperature-dependent ensemble devices using TiO2 nanotubes, we show that Dexter energy transfer, likely mediated by the exciton-shelves formed in these QD-DNA self-assembled structures, can be used for efficient

Experimental photoabsorption cross-sections combined with constraints provided by the Kuhn-Reiche-Thomas sum rule and the high-energy behavior of the dipole-oscillator-strength density are used to construct dipole oscillator strength distributions for buckminsterfullerene (C60). The distributions are used to predict dipole sum rules Sk, mean excitation energies Ik, the frequency dependent polarizability, and C6 coefficients for the long-range dipole-dipole interactions of C60 with a variety of atoms and molecules.

Low frequency (<1000 Hz) sound absorption in the ocean depends exponentially on ocean pH. While the absolute amplitudes measured in long-range (order of 1000 km) acoustic transmission experiments depend in a complex manner on ocean structure and are difficult to interpret without ambiguity, measurements of differential absorption as a function of frequency contain significant information. For surface-reflected rays (RSR) there is the additional factor of frequency-dependent reflectivity. In principle, a comparison of transmitted and received acoustic spectra can be inverted to obtain ocean pH and surface roughness. Calculations performed with preliminary data from a 750-km path in the North Pacific give qualitative agreement with theory (higher frequencies are attenuated more than lower frequencies) but are inadequate for quantitative comparisons (the experiment was not optimized for differential attenuation measurements). Our conclusion is that it is possible, but not easy, to obtain quantitative information on ocean pH and surface roughness from measurements of differential attenuation with frequency along resolved ray paths. To obtain an accuracy of 0.05 in pH with a 750-km transmission at 550+/-100 Hz would require about 100 independent samples for the North Pacific (pH~7.7) and 60 independent samples for the Atlantic (pH~8.0) in order to achieve adequate averaging of amplitude fluctuations induced by internal waves and ambient acoustic noise.

LONGRANGE FORECASTING OF RADAR PERFORMANCE IN THE WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC by David Ramsaur June 2009 Thesis Co-Advisors...2. REPORT DATE June 2009 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s Thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Climate Analysis and LongRange...degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN METEOROLOGY from the NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL June 2009 Author: David C. Ramsaur

...-range acquisition estimates. 5.404-2 Section 5.404-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Announcements of long-range acquisition estimates. Further publicizing, consistent with the needs of the individual case, may be accomplished by announcing through the GPE that long-range acquisition estimates...

...-range acquisition estimates. 5.404-2 Section 5.404-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Announcements of long-range acquisition estimates. Further publicizing, consistent with the needs of the individual case, may be accomplished by announcing through the GPE that long-range acquisition estimates...

...-range acquisition estimates. 5.404-2 Section 5.404-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Announcements of long-range acquisition estimates. Further publicizing, consistent with the needs of the individual case, may be accomplished by announcing through the GPE that long-range acquisition estimates...

...-range acquisition estimates. 5.404-2 Section 5.404-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Announcements of long-range acquisition estimates. Further publicizing, consistent with the needs of the individual case, may be accomplished by announcing through the GPE that long-range acquisition estimates...

...-range acquisition estimates. 5.404-2 Section 5.404-2 Federal Acquisition Regulations System FEDERAL... Announcements of long-range acquisition estimates. Further publicizing, consistent with the needs of the individual case, may be accomplished by announcing through the GPE that long-range acquisition estimates...

Based upon a planning project initiated at North Idaho College (NIC) in 1981 and approved by the Board of Trustees in 1982, this long-range plan states the mission of NIC and specifies goals and objectives to be attained in the next 3 years. First, introductory sections consider the qualities of a good long-range plan, address the responsibilities…

Recently, Fukui and Todo have proposed a new effective Monte Carlo algorithm for long-range interacting systems. Using the algorithm with the nonequilibrium relaxation method, we investigated long-range interacting one-dimensional Ising models both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic with the nearest-neighbor ferromagnetic interaction. For the antiferromagnetic model, we found the systems are paramagnetic at finite temperatures.

Nanoporous anodic aluminium oxide has been widely used for the development of various functional nanostructures. So far these self-organized pore structures could only be prepared within narrow processing conditions. Here we report a new oxalic-acid-based anodization process for long-range ordered alumina membranes. This process is a new generation of the so-called "hard anodization" approach that has been widely used in industry for high-speed fabrication of mechanically robust, very thick (>100 microm) and low-porosity alumina films since the 1960s. This hard anodization approach establishes a new self-ordering regime with interpore distances, (D(int))=200-300 nm, which have not been achieved by mild anodization processes so far. It offers substantial advantages over conventional anodization processes in terms of processing time, allowing 2,500-3,500% faster oxide growth with improved ordering of the nanopores. Perfectly ordered alumina membranes with high aspect ratios (>1,000) of uniform nanopores with periodically modulated diameters have been realized.

The packing of charged micron-sized particles is investigated using discrete element simulations based on adhesive contact dynamic model. The formation process and the final obtained structures of ballistic packings are studied to show the effect of interparticle Coulomb force. It is found that increasing the charge on particles causes a remarkable decrease of the packing volume fraction ϕ and the average coordination number 〈Z〉, indicating a looser and chainlike structure. Force-scaling analysis shows that the long-range Coulomb interaction changes packing structures through its influence on particle inertia before they are bonded into the force networks. Once contact networks are formed, the expansion effect caused by repulsive Coulomb forces are dominated by short-range adhesion. Based on abundant results from simulations, a dimensionless adhesion parameter Ad*, which combines the effects of the particle inertia, the short-range adhesion and the long-range Coulomb interaction, is proposed and successfully scales the packing results for micron-sized particles within the latest derived adhesive loose packing (ALP) regime. The structural properties of our packings follow well the recent theoretical prediction which is described by an ensemble approach based on a coarse-grained volume function, indicating some kind of universality in the low packing density regime of the phase diagram regardless of adhesion or particle charge. Based on the comprehensive consideration of the complicated inter-particle interactions, our findings provide insight into the roles of short-range adhesion and repulsive Coulomb force during packing formation and should be useful for further design of packings.

In contrast to the classical view that fundamental visual attributes such as color and motion are independently processed in the visual system (e.g. Livingstone and Hubel, 1987; Marr, 1982), recent studies have revealed various forms of cross-attribute interactions, such as averaging of color appearance along the motion trajectory of an object (Nishida et al., 2007). In this study, we investigated whether such color signal integration along a motion trajectory can be induced only by motion mechanisms having large receptive fields, without simple integration within direction-selective neurons with small receptive fields, like those in V1. The stimulus consisted of discs with long-range apparent motion along a circular trajectory. The stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between disc presentations controlled the strength of the apparent motion perception. We measured observers' sensitivity in detecting color modulation on the discs. The results showed that the measured sensitivity was lowest at SOAs corresponding to the strongest motion perception. This can be interpreted as follows: color signals were integrated along an apparent motion path, and this integration reduced chromatic sensitivity by averaging color signals. Another experiment that controlled apparent motion perception in a different way also supported this idea. However, this integration effect seemed to be linked to responses of motion detectors for the apparent motion stimuli, not directly to perceptual motion representation in the visual system. These results suggest that the human visual system handles color information from retinal inputs regarding moving objects based not only on a retinotopic coordinate but also on object-based coordinates, even when the moving object yields only long-range apparent motion.

Branched structures arise in the intra-cellular signaling network when a molecule is involved in multiple enzyme-substrate reaction cascades. Such branched motifs are involved in key biological processes, e.g., immune response activated by T-cell and B-cell receptors. In this paper, we demonstrate long-range communication through retrograde propagation between branches of signaling pathways whose molecules do not directly interact. Our numerical simulations and experiments on a system comprising branches with JNK and p38MAPK as terminal molecules respectively that share a common MAP3K enzyme MEKK3/4 show that perturbing an enzyme in one branch can result in a series of changes in the activity levels of molecules “upstream” to the enzyme that eventually reaches the branch-point and affects other branches. In the absence of any evidence for explicit feedback regulation between the functionally distinct JNK and p38MAPK pathways, the experimentally observed modulation of phosphorylation amplitudes in the two pathways when a terminal kinase is inhibited implies the existence of long-range coordination through retrograde information propagation previously demonstrated in single linear reaction pathways. An important aspect of retrograde propagation in branched pathways that is distinct from previous work on retroactivity focusing exclusively on single chains is that varying the type of perturbation, e.g., between pharmaceutical agent mediated inhibition of phosphorylation or suppression of protein expression, can result in opposing responses in the other branches. This can have potential significance in designing drugs targeting key molecules which regulate multiple pathways implicated in systems-level diseases such as cancer and diabetes. PMID:23741327

How distal transcriptional enhancer sequences interact with proximal promoters is poorly understood within the context of chromatin. In this report, we have used the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus to address the role of the PTIP protein in transcription regulation and class switch recombination in B cells, a process that depends on regulated transcription and DNA recombination via Pax5 and distal 3' enhancer sequences. We first show that PTIP is recruited to a Pax5 binding site to promote histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methylation. Using a CD19-Cre driver strain, we deleted PTIP in mature B cells. Loss of PTIP inhibited class switch recombination by suppressing transcription and histone H3K4 methylation at the germ line transcript promoters. In the absence of PTIP, Pax5 binding to the promoter regions is reduced and long-range chromatin interactions between the distal enhancer at the 3' regulatory region and the germ line transcript promoters are not detected. We propose a model whereby PTIP stabilizes the Pax5 DNA interactions that promote chromatin looping and regulate transcriptional responses needed for class switch recombination.

We extend the core-halo approach of Levin et al (2014 Phys. Rep. 535, 1) for the violent relaxation of long-range interacting system with a waterbag initial condition, in the case of a widely studied Hamiltonian mean field model. The Gibbs entropy maximization principle is considered with the constraints of energy conservation and of coarse-grained Casimir invariants of the Vlasov equation. The core-halo distribution function depends only on the one-particle mean-field energy, as is expected from the Jeans theorem, and depends on a set of parameters which in our approach is completely determined without having to solve an envelope equation for the contour of the initial state, as required in the original approach. We also show that a different ansatz can be used for the core-halo distribution with similar results. This work also reveals a link between a parametric resonance causing the non-equilibrium phase transition in the model, a dynamical property, and a discontinuity of the (non-equilibrium) entropy of the system.

Non-equilibrium diffusive systems are known to exhibit long-range correlations, which decay like the inverse 1/L of the system size L in one dimension. Here, taking the example of the ABC model, we show that this size dependence becomes anomalous (the decay becomes a non-integer power of L) when the diffusive system approaches a second-order phase transition. This power-law decay as well as the L-dependence of the time-time correlations can be understood in terms of the dynamics of the amplitude of the first Fourier mode of the particle densities. This amplitude evolves according to a Langevin equation in a quartic potential, which was introduced in a previous work to explain the anomalous behavior of the cumulants of the current near this second-order phase transition. Here we also compute some of these cumulants away from the transition and show that they become singular as the transition is approached, matching with what we already knew in the critical regime.

The relaxation to equilibrium of two long-range-interacting Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-like models (β type) in thermal contact is numerically studied. These systems, with different sizes and energy densities, are coupled to each other by a few thermal contacts which are short-range harmonic springs. By using the kinetic definition of temperature, we compute the time evolution of temperature and energy density of the two systems. Eventually, for some time t >teq, the temperature and energy density of the coupled system equilibrate to values consistent with standard Boltzmann-Gibbs thermostatistics. The equilibration time teq depends on the system size N as teq ∼Nγ where γ ≃ 1.8. We compute the velocity distribution P (v) of the oscillators of the two systems during the relaxation process. We find that P (v) is non-Gaussian and is remarkably close to a q-Gaussian distribution for all times before thermal equilibrium is reached. During the relaxation process we observe q > 1 while close to t =teq the value of q converges to unity and P (v) approaches a Gaussian. Thus the relaxation phenomenon in long-ranged systems connected by a thermal contact can be generically described as a crossover from q-statistics to Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics.

Gravity dependent transport phenomena in various industrial processes are investigated in order to indicate new directions for micro-gravity research that enhance the commercial success of the space program. The present article describes the commercialization possibilities of such topics associated with physicochemical transport phenomena. The topics are: coating flow, rotating electrochemical system, and convection in low Plandtl number fluids. The present study is directed to understand these phenomena, and to develop a knowledge base for their applications with emphasis to a micro-gravity environment.

Complex fluctuations of unknown origin appear in the normal gait pattern. These fluctuations might be described as being 1) uncorrelated white noise, 2) short-range correlations, or 3) long-range correlations with power-law scaling. To test these possibilities, the stride interval of 10 healthy young men was measured as they walked for 9 min at their usual rate. From these time series, we calculated scaling indexes by using a modified random walk analysis and power spectral analysis. Both indexes indicated the presence of long-range self-similar correlations extending over hundreds of steps; the stride interval at any time depended on the stride interval at remote previous times, and this dependence decayed in a scale-free (fractallike) power-law fashion. These scaling indexes were significantly different from those obtained after random shuffling of the original time series, indicating the importance of the sequential ordering of the stride interval. We demonstrate that conventional models of gait generation fail to reproduce the observed scaling behavior and introduce a new type of central pattern generator model that successfully accounts for the experimentally observed long-range correlations.

Complex fluctuation of unknown origin appear in the normal gait pattern. These fluctuations might be described as being (1) uncorrelated white noise, (2) short-range correlations, or (3) long-range correlations with power-law scaling. To test these possibilities, the stride interval of 10 healthy young men was measured as they walked for 9 min at their usual rate. From these time series we calculated scaling indexes by using a modified random walk analysis and power spectral analysis. Both indexes indicated the presence of long-range self-similar correlations extending over hundreds of steps; the stride interval at any time depended on the stride interval at remote previous times, and this dependence decayed in a scale-free (fractallike) power-law fashion. These scaling indexes were significantly different from those obtained after random shuffling of the original time series, indicating the importance of the sequential ordering of the stride interval. We demonstrate that conventional models of gait generation fail to reproduce the observed scaling behavior and introduce a new type of central pattern generator model that sucessfully accounts for the experimentally observed long-range correlations.

The aminergic alpha(2b)-adrenergic receptor (alpha(2b)-AR) third intracellular loop (alpha(2b)-AR 3i) mediates receptor subcellular compartmentalization and signal transduction processes via ligand-dependent interaction with G(i)- and G(o)- proteins. To understand the structural origins of these processes we engineered several lengths of alpha(2b)-AR 3i into the third intracellular loop of the proton pump bacteriorhodopsin (bR) and produced the fusion proteins in quantities suitable for physical studies. The fusion proteins were expressed in the Archaeon Halobacterium salinarum and purified. A highly expressed fusion protein was crystallized from bicelles and diffracted to low resolution on an in-house diffractometer. The bR-alpha(2b)-AR 3i(203-292) protein possessed a photocycle slightly perturbed from that of the wild-type bR. The first half of the fusion protein photocycle, correlated with proton release, is accelerated by a factor of 3, whereas the second half, correlated with proton uptake, is slightly slower than wild-type bR. In addition, there is a large decrease in the pK(a), (from 9.6 to 8.3) of the terminal proton release group in the unphotolyzed state of bR-alpha(2b)-AR 3i as deduced from the pH-dependence of the M-formation. Perturbation of a cytoplasmic loop has thus resulted in the perturbation of proton release at the extracellular surface. The current work indicates that long-range and highly coupled intramolecular interactions exist that are capable of "transducing" structural perturbations (e.g., signals) across the cellular membrane. This gene fusion approach may have general applicability for physical studies of G-protein-coupled receptor domains in the context of the bR structural scaffold.

Charge and excitonic-energy transfer phenomena are fundamental for energy conversion in solar cells as well as artificial photosynthesis. Currently, much interest is being paid to light-harvesting and energy transduction processes in supramolecular structures, where nuclear dynamics has a major influence on electronic quantum dynamics. For this reason, the simulation of longrange electron transfer in supramolecular structures, under environmental conditions described within an atomistic framework, has been a difficult problem to study. This work describes a coupled quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics method that aims at describing longrange charge transfer processes in supramolecular systems, taking into account the atomistic details of large molecular structures, the underlying nuclear motion, and environmental effects. The method is applied to investigate the relevance of electron-nuclei interaction on the mechanisms for photo-induced electron-hole pair separation in dye-sensitized interfaces as well as electronic dynamics in molecular structures.

The presence or absence of long-range correlations in environmental radioactivity fluctuations has recently attracted considerable interest. Among a multiplicity of practically relevant applications, identifying and disentangling the environmental factors controlling the variable concentrations of the radioactive noble gas Radon is important for estimating its effect on human health and the efficiency of possible measures for reducing the corresponding exposition. In this work, we present a critical re-assessment of a multiplicity of complementary methods that have been previously applied for evaluating the presence of long-range correlations and fractal scaling in environmental Radon variations with a particular focus on the specific properties of the underlying time series. As an illustrative case study, we subsequently re-analyze two high-frequency records of indoor Radon concentrations from Coimbra, Portugal, each of which spans several months of continuous measurements at a high temporal resolution of five minutes. Our results reveal that at the study site, Radon concentrations exhibit complex multi-scale dynamics with qualitatively different properties at different time-scales: (i) essentially white noise in the high-frequency part (up to time-scales of about one hour), (ii) spurious indications of a non-stationary, apparently long-range correlated process (at time scales between hours and one day) arising from marked periodic components probably related to tidal frequencies, and (iii) low-frequency variability indicating a true long-rangedependentprocess, which might be dominated by a response to meteorological drivers. In the presence of such multi-scale variability, common estimators of long-range memory in time series are necessarily prone to fail if applied to the raw data without previous separation of time-scales with qualitatively different dynamics. We emphasize that similar properties can be found in other types of geophysical time series (for

The presence or absence of long-range correlations in the environmental radioactivity fluctuations has recently attracted considerable interest. Among a multiplicity of practically relevant applications, identifying and disentangling the environmental factors controlling the variable concentrations of the radioactive noble gas radon is important for estimating its effect on human health and the efficiency of possible measures for reducing the corresponding exposition. In this work, we present a critical re-assessment of a multiplicity of complementary methods that have been previously applied for evaluating the presence of long-range correlations and fractal scaling in environmental radon variations with a particular focus on the specific properties of the underlying time series. As an illustrative case study, we subsequently re-analyze two high-frequency records of indoor radon concentrations from Coimbra, Portugal, each of which spans several weeks of continuous measurements at a high temporal resolution of five minutes.Our results reveal that at the study site, radon concentrations exhibit complex multi-scale dynamics with qualitatively different properties at different time-scales: (i) essentially white noise in the high-frequency part (up to time-scales of about one hour), (ii) spurious indications of a non-stationary, apparently long-range correlated process (at time scales between some hours and one day) arising from marked periodic components, and (iii) low-frequency variability indicating a true long-rangedependentprocess. In the presence of such multi-scale variability, common estimators of long-range memory in time series are prone to fail if applied to the raw data without previous separation of time-scales with qualitatively different dynamics.

Mineral dust is a major component of the atmospheric aerosol load which main source region is the Saharan desert. Dust layers can be transported over thousands of kilometers and thus they cannot be considered as regional phenomenon. During long-range transport the particles are influenced by aging and mixing processes altering the microphysical and thus the optical properties of Saharan dust. But the influence of long-range transport on the particle properties and their effect on the Earth's radiation budget is still not well understood. To study aging processes of transported Saharan dust as well as the microphysical, optical and radiative properties of long-range transported dust the Saharan Aerosol Long-range Transport and Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction Experiment (SALTRACE) took place at Barbados in June and July 2013. SALTRACE was designed as closure study combining ground-based and airborne lidar and in-situ measurements with Satellite observations, long-term measurements at Barbados, and model calculations. During SALTRACE four main dust events occurred with column integrated AOD of up to 0.6. The vertical aerosol distribution was characterized by a three layer structure consisting of a marine dominated boundary layer, a highly variable mixing layer often affected by clouds, and a Saharan dust layer in heights between 2 km and 3.5 km in some cases even up to 5 km. We will present first results of the ground-based measurements with the dual-wavelength lidar system POLIS of the Meteorological Institute of the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, München. In particular we will investigate measurements of the particle linear depolarization ratio and the lidar ratio of the different aerosol layers. We compare our findings with results of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) studying Saharan dust close to the source region in Morocco and at the beginning of the long-range transport on the Cape Verde Islands. In addition, we assess the influence of long-range

We model long-range correlations of nucleotides in the human DNA sequence using the long-range one-dimensional (1D) Ising model. We show that, for distances between 10(3) and 10(6) bp, the correlations show a universal behavior and may be described by the non-mean-field limit of the long-range 1D Ising model. This allows us to make some testable hypothesis on the nature of the interaction between distant portions of the DNA chain which led to the DNA structure that we observe today in higher eukaryotes.

Within this study, we reveal the longrange correlation concerning hydrophilicity and flexibility along sequences of hemoglobins belonging to different organisms and we compare them with the longrange correlations properties obtained for other protein families. For all hemoglobins considered, we investigate two discrete spatial series: the hydrophilicity and flexibility respectively. We apply the nonlinear analysis methods to analyze the two spatial series by calculating the spectral coefficient {beta}, the scaling exponent {alpha} and Hurst exponent H. The obtained values for the mentioned coefficients suggest longrange correlation within the analyzed sequences of hemoglobins in good agreement with those obtained for the calcium binding proteins and hydrolases.

We model long-range correlations of nucleotides in the human DNA sequence using the long-range one-dimensional (1D) Ising model. We show that, for distances between 103 and 106 bp, the correlations show a universal behavior and may be described by the non-mean-field limit of the long-range 1D Ising model. This allows us to make some testable hypothesis on the nature of the interaction between distant portions of the DNA chain which led to the DNA structure that we observe today in higher eukaryotes.

Severe brain injuries can trigger epileptogenesis, a latent period that eventually leads to epilepsy. Previous studies have demonstrated that changes in local connectivity between cortical neurons are a part of the epileptogenic processes. In the present study we aimed to investigate whether changes in long-range connectivity are also involved in epileptogenesis. We performed a large unilateral transection (undercut) of the white matter below the suprasylvian gyrus in cats. After about 2 months, we either injected retrograde tracer (choleratoxin, sub-unit B, CTB) or performed Golgi staining. We analyzed distribution of retrogradely labeled neurons, counted dendritic spines in the neocortex (Golgi staining), and analyzed dendritic orientation in control conditions and after the injury. We found a significant increase in the number of detected cells at the frontal parts of the injured hemisphere, which suggests that the process of axonal sprouting occurs in the deafferented area. The increase in the number of retrogradely stained neurons was accompanied with a significant decrease in neocortical spine density in the undercut area, a reduction in vertical and an increase in horizontal orientation of neuronal processes. The present study shows global morphological changes underlying epileptogenesis. An increased connectivity in the injured cortical regions accompanied with a decrease in spine density suggests that excitatory synapses might be formed on dendritic shafts, which probably contributes to the altered neuronal excitability that was described in previous studies on epileptogenesis. PMID:25304932

Severe brain injuries can trigger epileptogenesis, a latent period that eventually leads to epilepsy. Previous studies have demonstrated that changes in local connectivity between cortical neurons are a part of the epileptogenic processes. In the present study we aimed to investigate whether changes in long-range connectivity are also involved in epileptogenesis. We performed a large unilateral transection (undercut) of the white matter below the suprasylvian gyrus in cats. After about 2 months, we either injected retrograde tracer (cholera toxin, sub-unit B, CTB) or performed Golgi staining. We analyzed distribution of retrogradely labeled neurons, counted dendritic spines in the neocortex (Golgi staining), and analyzed dendritic orientation in control conditions and after the injury. We found a significant increase in the number of detected cells at the frontal parts of the injured hemisphere, which suggests that the process of axonal sprouting occurs in the deafferented area. The increase in the number of retrogradely stained neurons was accompanied with a significant decrease in neocortical spine density in the undercut area, a reduction in vertical and an increase in horizontal orientation of neuronal processes. The present study shows global morphological changes underlying epileptogenesis. An increased connectivity in the injured cortical regions accompanied with a decrease in spine density suggests that excitatory synapses might be formed on dendritic shafts, which probably contributes to the altered neuronal excitability that was described in previous studies on epileptogenesis.

Long-range exchange and correlation effects, responsible for the failure of currently used approximate density functionals in describing van der Waals forces, are taken into account explicitly after a separation of the electron-electron interaction in the Hamiltonian into short- and long-range components. We propose a 'range-separated hybrid' functional based on a local density approximation for the short-range exchange-correlation energy, combined with a long-range exact exchange energy. Long-range correlation effects are added by a second-order perturbational treatment. The resulting scheme is general and is particularly well adapted to describe van der Waals complexes, such as rare gas dimers.

Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we systematically study the effective interaction between two parallel hard walls in a 2D suspension of self-propelled (active) colloidal hard spheres, and we find that the effective force between two hard walls can be tuned from a longrange repulsion into a longrange attraction by changing the density of active particles. At relatively high densities, the active hard spheres can form a dynamic crystalline bridge, which induces a strong oscillating longrange dynamic wetting repulsion between the walls. With decreasing density, the dynamic bridge gradually breaks, and an intriguing longrange dynamic depletion attraction arises. A similar effect occurs in a quasi-2D suspension of self-propelled colloidal hard spheres by changing the height of the confinement. Our results open up new possibilities to manipulate the motion and assembly of microscopic objects by using active matter.

Using Brownian dynamics simulations, we systematically study the effective interaction between two parallel hard walls in a 2D suspension of self-propelled (active) colloidal hard spheres, and we find that the effective force between two hard walls can be tuned from a longrange repulsion into a longrange attraction by changing the density of active particles. At relatively high densities, the active hard spheres can form a dynamic crystalline bridge, which induces a strong oscillating longrange dynamic wetting repulsion between the walls. With decreasing density, the dynamic bridge gradually breaks, and an intriguing longrange dynamic depletion attraction arises. A similar effect occurs in a quasi-2D suspension of self-propelled colloidal hard spheres by changing the height of the confinement. Our results open up new possibilities to manipulate the motion and assembly of microscopic objects by using active matter.

... WATER INDIAN RESERVATION ROADS PROGRAM Planning, Design, and Construction of Indian Reservation Roads..., and health and social needs. (b) The time horizon for long-range transportation planning should be...

In Langmuir-Blodgett films containing organic dyes, efficient energy transfer over distances exceeding 100 nm is observed. This exceptionally long-range transfer is interpreted as due to special mutual orientation of the dye molecules.

Ring torsion effects on the optical excitation properties of poly( para-phenylene) (PPP) and polyaniline (PAN) are investigated by extending the Shimoi-Abe model (Shimoi Y and Abe S 1996 Synth. Met. 78 219). The model is solved using the intermediate-exciton formalism. Long-range excitons are characterized, and the long-range component of the oscillator strengths is calculated. We find that ring torsions affect the long-range excitons in PAN more readily than those in PPP, due to the larger torsion angle of PAN and the large number of bonds whose hopping integrals are modulated by torsions. Next, ring torsional disorder effects simulated by the Gaussian distribution function are analysed. The long-range component of the total oscillator strengths after sample averaging is nearly independent of the disorder strength in the PPP case, while that in the PAN case decreases readily as the disorder becomes stronger.

Long-term (2005-2011) MOZAIC (Measurements of OZone and water vapor by Airbus In-Service air Craft) ozone data have been investigated over Hyderabad (17.37° N, 78.47°E, 489 m amsl), India using back-air trajectories and contribution from regional pollution and long-range transport are assessed. Ozone data are grouped and analysed according to the air-mass residence time over the central India, marine region and Africa/Middle East regions. Ozone shows a linear dependence on air-mass residence time over the central India region for about six days. Rate of ozone increase is maximum during summer (boundary layer 6.8 ± 0.9 ppbv/day, lower free troposphere 2.4 ± 0.4 ppbv/day) and minimum during winter (boundary layer 1.5 ± 0.2 ppbv/day, lower free troposphere 0.8 ± 0.7 ppbv/day). The background ozone is estimated by extrapolating the linear regression line to zeroth residence day and is found to be significantly lower during summer/monsoon (15.8 ± 2.4 ppbv) within the boundary layer due to influence of marine air-mass. Monthly variation of the boundary layer ozone shows a distinct peak during March-April months. Simultaneous investigation of fire counts and potential source contribution function analysis confirms that Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) outflow has a significant contribution in ozone enhancement over even at this southern region throughout the year except in summer-monsoon season. The ozone in regionally polluted air masses influenced by the central Indian region is found to be higher than average ozone by 6-15% within the boundary layer and by 5-9% in the lower troposphere during different seasons. The marine air shows a lower ozone level by 4-28 ppbv throughout the year within the boundary layer. Role of long-range transport from Africa/Middle East is found to be significant in the lower troposphere and shows 4.4 ppbv and 9 ppbv higher ozone mixing ratio during summer and autumn, respectively.

Long-Range Alpha Detector (LRAD) technology is being studied for monitoring radon gas concentrations. LRAD-based instruments collect and measure the ionization produced in air by alpha decays. These ions can be moved to a collection grid via electrostatic ion-transport design collected approximately 95% of the radon produced ions, while instruments using an airflow transport design collected from 44% to 77% of these ions, depending on detector geometry. The current produced by collecting this ionization is linear with respect to {sup 222}Rn concentration over the available test range of 0.07 to 820 pCi/L. In the absence of statistical limitations due to low radon concentrations, the speed of response of LRAD-based instruments is determined by the air exchange rate, and therefore changes in radon concentration can be detected in just a few seconds. Recent tests show that at radon concentrations below 20 pCi/L current pulses produced by individual alpha decays can be counted, thus improving detector sensitivity and stability even further. Because these detectors are simple, rugged, and do not consume much power, they are natural candidates for portable, battery operation.

The neural network and the task-dependence of (local) activity changes involved in bimanual coordination are well documented. However, much less is known about the functional connectivity within this neural network and its modulation according to manipulations of task complexity. Here, we assessed neural activity via high-density electroencephalography, focussing on changes of activity in the beta frequency band (~15-30Hz) across the motor network in 26 young adult participants (19-29 years old). We investigated how network connectivity was modulated with task difficulty and errors of performance during a bimanual visuomotor movement consisting of dial rotation according to three different ratios of speed: an isofrequency movement (1:1), a non-isofrequency movement with the right hand keeping the fast pace (1:3), and the converse ratio with the left hand keeping the fast pace (3:1). To quantify functional coupling, we determined neural synchronization which might be key for the timing of the activity within brain regions during task execution. Individual source activity with realistic head models was reconstructed at seven regions of interest including frontal and parietal areas, among which we estimated phase-based connectivity. Partial least squares analysis revealed a significant modulation of connectivity with task difficulty, and significant correlations between connectivity and errors in performance, in particular between sensorimotor cortices. Our findings suggest that modulation of long-range synchronization is instrumental for coping with increasing task demands in bimanual coordination.

Particle–particle interactions determine the state of a system. Control over the range of such interactions as well as their magnitude has been an active area of research for decades due to the fundamental challenges it poses in science and technology. Very recently, effective interactions between active particles have gathered much attention as they can lead to out-of-equilibrium cooperative states such as flocking. Inspired by nature, where active living cells coexist with lifeless objects and structures, here we study the effective interactions that appear in systems composed of active and passive mixtures of colloids. Our systems are 2D colloidal monolayers composed primarily of passive (inactive) colloids, and a very small fraction of active (spinning) ferromagnetic colloids. We find an emergent ultra–long-range attractive interaction induced by the activity of the spinning particles and mediated by the elasticity of the passive medium. Interestingly, the appearance of such interaction depends on the spinning protocol and has a minimum actuation timescale below which no attraction is observed. Overall, these results clearly show that, in the presence of elastic components, active particles can interact across very long distances without any chemical modification of the environment. Such a mechanism might potentially be important for some biological systems and can be harnessed for newer developments in synthetic active soft materials. PMID:27071096

It has been recently shown that scores of physical and chemical phenomena (including spontaneous emission, scattering and Förster energy transfer) can be controlled by nonlocal dielectric environments provided by metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion and simpler metal/dielectric structures. At this time, we have researched van der Waals interactions and experimentally studied wetting of several metallic, dielectric and composite multilayered substrates. We have found that the wetting angle of water on top of MgF2 is highly sensitive to the thickness of the MgF2 layer and the nature of the underlying substrate that could be positioned as far as ~100 nm beneath the water/MgF2 interface. We refer to this phenomenon as longrange wetting transparency. The latter effect cannot be described in terms of the most basic model of dispersion van der Waals-London forces based on pair-wise summation of dipole-dipole interactions across an interface or a gap separating the two media. We infer that the experimentally observed gradual change of the wetting angle with increase of the thickness of the MgF2 layer can possibly be explained by the distance dependence of the Hamaker function (describing the strength of interaction), which originates from retardation of electromagnetic waves at the distances comparable to a wavelength.

*The evolutionary outcomes of range expansion/contraction depend on the biological system considered and the interactions among the evolutionary forces in place. In this study, we examined the demographic history and the local polymorphism patterns of candidate genes linked to drought tolerance of a widespread Mediterranean conifer (Pinus halepensis). *To that end, we used cpSSRs and coalescence modelling of nuclear genes to infer the demographic history of natural populations covering the species range. Ten drought-response candidate genes were then examined for their patterns of polymorphism and tested for selection considering plausible demographic scenarios. *Our results revealed a marked loss of genetic diversity from the relictual Greek population towards the western range of the species, as well as molecular signatures of intense bottlenecks. Moreover, we found an excess of derived polymorphisms in several genes sampled in the western part of the range - a potential result of the action of natural selection on populations confronted with new environments following long-range colonization. *Wide-range expansions-contractions of forest trees are accompanied by strong selective pressures, resulting in distinct evolutionary units. This knowledge is of crucial importance for the conservation and management of forests in the face of climate change.

The U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory is evaluating the feasibility of long-standoff-range remote sensing of gaseous species present in trace amounts in the atmosphere. To date, the Phillips Laboratory program has been concerned with the preliminary design and performance analysis of a commercially available CO(subscript 2) laser-based DIAL system operating from mountain-top-observatory and airborne platform and more recently with long-range ground testing using a 21.8 km slant path from 3.05 km ASL to sea level as the initial steps in the design and development of an airborne system capability. Straightforward scaling of the performance of a near-term technology direct-detection LIDAR system with propagation range to a topographic target and with the average atmospheric absorption coefficient along the path has been performed. Results indicate that useful airborne operation of such a system should be possible for slant path ranges between 20 km and 50 km, depending upon atmospheric transmission at the operating wavelengths of the (superscript 13)C(superscript 16)O(subscript 2) source. This paper describes the design of the airborne system which will be deployed on the Phillips Laboratory NC-135 research aircraft for DIAL system performance tests at slant ranges of 20 km to 50 km, scheduled for the near future. Performance simulations for the airborne tests will be presented and related to performance obtained during initial ground-based tests.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a prospective means to realize quantum computers. The performance of a NMR quantum computer depends sensitively on the properties of the NMR-active molecule used, where one requirement is a large indirect spin-spin coupling over large distances. F-F spin-spin coupling constants (SSCCs) for fluorinated polyenes F -(CHCH)n-F (n=1&ctdot;5) are >9Hz across distances of more than 10Å. Analysis of the F,F spin-spin coupling mechanism with our recently developed decomposition of J into Orbital Contributions with the help of Orbital Currents and Partial Spin Polarization (J-OCOC-PSP=J-OC-PSP) method reveals that coupling is dominated by the spin-dipole (SD) term due to an interplay between the π lone-pair orbitals at the F atoms and the π(C2n) electron system. From our investigations we conclude that SD-dominated SSCCs should occur commonly in molecules with a contiguous π-electron system between the two coupling nuclei and that a large SD coupling generally is the most prospective way to provide large long-range spin-spin coupling. Our results give guidelines for the design of suitable active molecules for NMR quantum computers.

It has been recently shown that scores of physical and chemical phenomena (including spontaneous emission, scattering and Förster energy transfer) can be controlled by nonlocal dielectric environments provided by metamaterials with hyperbolic dispersion and simpler metal/dielectric structures. At this time, we have researched van der Waals interactions and experimentally studied wetting of several metallic, dielectric and composite multilayered substrates. We have found that the wetting angle of water on top of MgF2 is highly sensitive to the thickness of the MgF2 layer and the nature of the underlying substrate that could be positioned as far as ~100 nm beneath the water/MgF2 interface. We refer to this phenomenon as longrange wetting transparency. The latter effect cannot be described in terms of the most basic model of dispersion van der Waals-London forces based on pair-wise summation of dipole-dipole interactions across an interface or a gap separating the two media. We infer that the experimentally observed gradual change of the wetting angle with increase of the thickness of the MgF2 layer can possibly be explained by the distance dependence of the Hamaker function (describing the strength of interaction), which originates from retardation of electromagnetic waves at the distances comparable to a wavelength. PMID:27324650

Reliable positioning capability is a crucial need for first responders in emergency and disaster situations. Lack of a dependable positioning system can result in disruptions in the situational awareness between the local responders in the field and the emergency command and control centers. Indoor localization and navigation poses many challenges for search and rescue teams (i.e. firefighters) such as inability to determine their exact location and communicate with the incident commander outside the building. Although RF navigation and tracking systems have many advantages over other technologies, the harsh indoor RF environment demands new ways of developing and using RF sensor and communication systems. A new approach, proposed recently [1-4], employs passive RFID for geo-location and tracking of a first responder. However, because conventional passive RFID tags have limited communications ranges, a very large number of these tags will be required to fully cover a large multi-storied building without any dead spots. Another technical challenge for conventional RF communications is the transmission of data from the mobile RFID platform (the tag reader) to the outside command and control node, as the buildings walls impose challenges such as attenuation and multipath. In this paper, we introduce a mobile platform architecture that makes optimal use of long-range passive tags, and takes advantage of the frequency diversity of Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems for a reliable, robust and yet low-cost infrastructure.

We systematically study the scaling properties of the magnitude and sign of the fluctuations in correlated time series, which is a simple and useful approach to distinguish between systems with different dynamical properties but the same linear correlations. First, we decompose artificial long-range power-law linearly correlated time series into magnitude and sign series derived from the consecutive increments in the original series, and we study their correlation properties. We find analytical expressions for the correlation exponent of the sign series as a function of the exponent of the original series. Such expressions are necessary for modeling surrogate time series with desired scaling properties. Next, we study linear and nonlinear correlation properties of series composed as products of independent magnitude and sign series. These surrogate series can be considered as a zero-order approximation to the analysis of the coupling of magnitude and sign in real data, a problem still open in many fields. We find analytical results for the scaling behavior of the composed series as a function of the correlation exponents of the magnitude and sign series used in the composition, and we determine the ranges of magnitude and sign correlation exponents leading to either single scaling or to crossover behaviors. Finally, we obtain how the linear and nonlinear properties of the composed series depend on the correlation exponents of their magnitude and sign series. Based on this information we propose a method to generate surrogate series with controlled correlation exponent and multifractal spectrum.

A Hamiltonian mean field model, where the potential is inspired by dipole-dipole interactions, is proposed to characterize the behavior of systems with long-range interactions. The dynamics of the system remains in quasistationary states before arriving at equilibrium. The equilibrium is analytically derived from the canonical ensemble and coincides with that obtained from molecular dynamics simulations (microcanonical ensemble) at only long time scales. The dynamics of the system is characterized by the behavior of the mean value of the kinetic energy. The significance of the results, compared to others in the recent literature, is that two plateaus sequentially emerge in the evolution of the model under the special considerations of the initial conditions and systems of finite size. The first plateau decays to a different second one before the system reaches equilibrium, but the dynamics of the system is expected to have only one plateau when the thermodynamics limit is reached because the difference between them tends to disappear as N tends to infinity. Hence, the first plateau is a type of quasistationary state the lifetime of which depends on a power law of N and the second seems to be a true quasistationary state as reported in the literature. We characterize the general behavior of the model according to its dynamics and thermodynamics.

Particle-particle interactions determine the state of a system. Control over the range of such interactions as well as their magnitude has been an active area of research for decades due to the fundamental challenges it poses in science and technology. Very recently, effective interactions between active particles have gathered much attention as they can lead to out-of-equilibrium cooperative states such as flocking. Inspired by nature, where active living cells coexist with lifeless objects and structures, here we study the effective interactions that appear in systems composed of active and passive mixtures of colloids. Our systems are 2D colloidal monolayers composed primarily of passive (inactive) colloids, and a very small fraction of active (spinning) ferromagnetic colloids. We find an emergent ultra-long-range attractive interaction induced by the activity of the spinning particles and mediated by the elasticity of the passive medium. Interestingly, the appearance of such interaction depends on the spinning protocol and has a minimum actuation timescale below which no attraction is observed. Overall, these results clearly show that, in the presence of elastic components, active particles can interact across very long distances without any chemical modification of the environment. Such a mechanism might potentially be important for some biological systems and can be harnessed for newer developments in synthetic active soft materials.

We have studied the kinetics of phase separation and gel formation in a low-dispersity colloid - non-adsorbing polymer system with longrange attraction using small-angle light scattering. This system exhibits two-phase and three-phase coexistence of gas, liquid and crystal phases when the strength of attraction is between 2 and 4kBT and gel phases when the strength of attraction is increased. For those samples that undergo macroscopic phase separation, whether to gas-crystal, gas-liquid or gas-liquid-crystal coexistence, we observe dynamic scaling of the structure factor and growth of a characteristic length scale that behaves as expected for phase separation in fluids. In samples that gel, the power law associated with the growth of the dominant length scale is not equal to 1/3, but appears to depend mainly on the strength of attraction, decreasing from 1/3 for samples near the coexistence region to 1/27 at 8kBT, over a wide range of colloid and polymer concentrations.

The critical properties of the Ziff-Gulari-Barshad (ZGB) model with the addition of long-range reactivity [C. H. Chan and P. A. Rikvold, Phys. Rev. E 91, 012103 (2015)] are further investigated. The scaling behaviors of the order parameter, susceptibility, and correlation length provide additional evidence that the universality class of the ZGB system changes from the two-dimensional Ising class to the mean-field class with the addition of even a weak long-range reactivity mechanism.

Ion implantation involves introduction of ionized atoms of any element (nitrogen) to metals thanks to the high kinetic energy that they acquired in the electric field. The distribution of nitrogen ions implanted at E = 65 keV energy and D = 1.1017 N+ /cm2 fluence in the steel sample and vacancies produced by them was calculated using the SRIM program. This result was confirmed by RBS measurements. The initial maximum range of the implanted nitrogen ions is ∼⃒0.17 μm. This value is relatively small compared to the influence of nitriding on the thickness surface layer of modified steel piston rings. Measurements of the friction coefficient during the pin-on-disc tribological test were performed under dry friction conditions. The friction coefficient of the implanted sample increased to values characteristic of an unimplanted sample after ca. 1500 measurement cycles. The depth of wear trace is ca. 2.4 μm. This implies that the thickness of the layer modified by the implantation process is ∼⃒2.4 μm and exceeds the initial range of the implanted ions by an order of magnitude. This effect, referred to as a long-range implantation effect, is caused by migration of vacancies and nitrogen atoms into the sample. This phenomenon makes ion implantation a legitimate process of modification of the surface layer in order to enhance the tribological properties of critical components of internal combustion engines such as steel piston rings.

In recent years, researchers in social cognition have found the "perceptual crossing paradigm" to be both a theoretical and practical advance toward meeting particular challenges. This paradigm has been used to analyze the type of interactive processes that emerge in minimal interactions and it has allowed progress toward understanding of the principles of social cognition processes. In this paper, we analyze whether some critical aspects of these interactions could not have been observed by previous studies. We consider alternative indicators that could complete, or even lead us to rethink, the current interpretation of the results obtained from both experimental and simulated modeling in the fields of social interactions and minimal perceptual crossing. In particular, we discuss the possibility that previous experiments have been analytically constrained to a short-term dynamic type of player response. Additionally, we propose the possibility of considering these experiments from a more suitable framework based on the use and analysis of long-range correlations and fractal dynamics. We will also reveal evidence supporting the idea that social interactions are deployed along many scales of activity. Specifically, we propose that the fractal structure of the interactions could be a more adequate framework to understand the type of social interaction patterns generated in a social engagement.

In this paper, the non-Markov statistical processes and long-range memory effects in human sensorimotor coordination are investigated. The theoretical basis of this study is the statistical theory of non-stationary discrete non-Markov processes in complex systems (Phys. Rev. E 62, 6178 (2000)). The human sensorimotor coordination was experimentally studied by means of standard dynamical tapping test on the group of 32 young peoples with tap numbers up to 400. This test was carried out separately for the right and the left hand according to the degree of domination of each brain hemisphere. The numerical analysis of the experimental results was made with the help of power spectra of the initial time correlation function, the memory functions of low orders and the first three points of the statistical spectrum of non-Markovity parameter. Our observations demonstrate, that with the regard to results of the standard dynamic tapping-test it is possible to divide all examinees into five different dynamic types. We have introduced the conflict coefficient to estimate quantitatively the order-disorder effects underlying life systems. The last one reflects the existence of disbalance between the nervous and the motor human coordination. The suggested classification of the neurophysiological activity represents the dynamic generalization of the well-known neuropsychological types and provides the new approach in a modern neuropsychology.

In recent years, researchers in social cognition have found the “perceptual crossing paradigm” to be both a theoretical and practical advance toward meeting particular challenges. This paradigm has been used to analyze the type of interactive processes that emerge in minimal interactions and it has allowed progress toward understanding of the principles of social cognition processes. In this paper, we analyze whether some critical aspects of these interactions could not have been observed by previous studies. We consider alternative indicators that could complete, or even lead us to rethink, the current interpretation of the results obtained from both experimental and simulated modeling in the fields of social interactions and minimal perceptual crossing. In particular, we discuss the possibility that previous experiments have been analytically constrained to a short-term dynamic type of player response. Additionally, we propose the possibility of considering these experiments from a more suitable framework based on the use and analysis of long-range correlations and fractal dynamics. We will also reveal evidence supporting the idea that social interactions are deployed along many scales of activity. Specifically, we propose that the fractal structure of the interactions could be a more adequate framework to understand the type of social interaction patterns generated in a social engagement. PMID:25429277

In the context of long-range digital neural circuit reconstruction, this paper investigates an approach for registering axons across histological serial sections. Tracing distinctly labeled axons over large distances allows neuroscientists to study very explicit relationships between the brain's complex interconnects and, for example, diseases or aberrant development. Large scale histological analysis requires, however, that the tissue be cut into sections. In immunohistochemical studies thin sections are easily distorted due to the cutting, preparation, and slide mounting processes. In this work we target the registration of thin serial sections containing axons. Sections are first traced to extract axon centerlines, and these traces are used to define registration landmarks where they intersect section boundaries. The trace data also provides distinguishing information regarding an axon's size and orientation within a section. We propose the use of these features when pairing axons across sections in addition to utilizing the spatial relationships amongst the landmarks. The global rotation and translation of an unregistered section are accounted for using a random sample consensus (RANSAC) based technique. An iterative nonrigid refinement process using B-spline warping is then used to reconnect axons and produce the sought after connectivity information.

We investigate a paradigmatic model for quantum transport with both nearest-neighbor and infinite-range hopping coupling (independent of the position). Due to long-range homogeneous hopping, a gap between the ground state and the excited states can be induced, which is mathematically equivalent to the superconducting gap. In the gapped regime, the dynamics within the excited-state subspace is shielded from long-range hopping, namely it occurs as if long-range hopping would be absent. This is a cooperative phenomenon since shielding is effective over a time scale that diverges with the system size. We named this effect cooperative shielding. We also discuss the consequences of our findings on Anderson localization. Long-range hopping is usually thought to destroy localization due to the fact that it induces an infinite number of resonances. Contrary to this common lore we show that the excited states display strong localized features when shielding is effective even in the regime of strong long-range coupling. A brief discussion on the extension of our results to generic power-law decaying long-range hopping is also given. Our preliminary results confirm that the effects found for the infinite-range case are generic.

Stride intervals of normal human walking exhibit long-range temporal correlations. Similar to the fractal-like behaviors observed in brain and heart activity, long-range correlations in walking have commonly been interpreted to result from chaotic dynamics and be a signature of health. Several mathematical models have reproduced this behavior by assuming a dominant role of neural central pattern generators (CPGs) and/or nonlinear biomechanics to evoke chaos. In this study, we show that a simple walking model without a CPG or biomechanics capable of chaos can reproduce long-range correlations. Stride intervals of the model revealed long-range correlations observed in human walking when the model had moderate orbital stability, which enabled the current stride to affect a future stride even after many steps. This provides a clear counterexample to the common hypothesis that a CPG and/or chaotic dynamics is required to explain the long-range correlations in healthy human walking. Instead, our results suggest that the long-range correlation may result from a combination of noise that is ubiquitous in biological systems and orbital stability that is essential in general rhythmic movements. PMID:24086274

To understand the origin of the spin-glass state in molybdate pyrochlores, the structure of Tb2Mo2O7 is investigated using two techniques: the long-range lattice structure was measured using neutron powder diffraction (NPD), and the local structure information was obtained from extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) measurements. While the long-range structure appears well ordered, apart from some enhanced mean-squared site displacements, the local structure measurements indicate nearest-neighbor disorder exists, similar to that found in the related spinglass pyrochlore, Y2Mo2O7. Although the freezing temperature in Tb2Mo2O7, 25 K, is slightly higher than in Y2Mo2O7, 22 K, the degree of local bond disorder is actually less in Tb2Mo2O7. This apparaent contradiction is considered in light of the interactions involved in the freezing process.

Serotonergic neurons play key roles in various biological processes. However, circuit mechanisms underlying tight control of serotonergic neurons remain largely unknown. Here, we systematically investigated the organization of long-range synaptic inputs to serotonergic neurons and GABAergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) of mice with a combination of viral tracing, slice electrophysiological, and optogenetic techniques. We found that DRN serotonergic neurons and GABAergic neurons receive largely comparable synaptic inputs from six major upstream brain areas. Upon further analysis of the fine functional circuit structures, we found both bilateral and ipsilateral patterns of topographic connectivity in the DRN for the axons from different inputs. Moreover, the upstream brain areas were found to bidirectionally control the activity of DRN serotonergic neurons by recruiting feedforward inhibition or via a push-pull mechanism. Our study provides a framework for further deciphering the functional roles of long-range circuits controlling the activity of serotonergic neurons in the DRN.

The long-range spin-triplet supercurrent transport is an interesting phenomenon in the superconductor/ferromagnet () heterostructure containing noncollinear magnetic domains. Here we study the long-range superharmonic Josephson current in asymmetric junctions. It is demonstrated that this current is induced by spin-triplet pairs − or + in the thick layer. The magnetic rotation of the particularly thin layer will not only modulate the amplitude of the superharmonic current but also realise the conversion between − and + . Moreover, the critical current shows an oscillatory dependence on thickness and exchange field in the layer. These effect can be used for engineering cryoelectronic devices manipulating the superharmonic current. In contrast, the critical current declines monotonically with increasing exchange field of the layer, and if the layer is converted into half-metal, the long-range supercurrent is prohibited but still exists within the entire region. This phenomenon contradicts the conventional wisdom and indicates the occurrence of spin and charge separation in present junction, which could lead to useful spintronics devices. PMID:26892755

Long-range forecasts of snowmelt flood characteristics with the lead time of 2-3 months have important significance for regulation of flood runoff and mitigation of flood damages at almost all large Russian rivers At the same time, the application of current forecasting techniques based on regression relationships between the runoff volume and the indexes of river basin conditions can lead to serious errors in forecasting resulted in large economic losses caused by wrong flood regulation. The forecast errors can be caused by complicated processes of soil freezing and soil moisture redistribution, too high rate of snow melt, large liquid precipitation before snow melt. or by large difference of meteorological conditions during the lead-time periods from climatologic ones. Analysis of economic losses had shown that the largest damages could, to a significant extent, be avoided if the decision makers had an opportunity to take into account predictive uncertainty and could use more cautious strategies in runoff regulation. Development of methodology of long-range ensemble forecasting of spring/summer floods which is based on distributed physically-based runoff generation models has created, in principle, a new basis for improving hydrological predictions as well as for estimating their uncertainty. This approach is illustrated by forecasting of the spring-summer floods at the Vyatka River and the Seim River basins. The application of the physically - based models of snowmelt runoff generation give a essential improving of statistical estimates of the deterministic forecasts of the flood volume in comparison with the forecasts obtained from the regression relationships. These models had been used also for the probabilistic forecasts assigning meteorological inputs during lead time periods from the available historical daily series, and from the series simulated by using a weather generator and the Monte Carlo procedure. The weather generator consists of the stochastic

Despite the importance of gold-palladium nanoalloys in heterogeneous catalysis, the phase stability of Au-Pd alloys still remains unclear. We report here on the alloying and chemical ordering in epitaxially-grown and post-annealed gold-palladium nanoparticles (NPs) using aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy. Au-Pd NPs with a controlled size, composition and structure were grown by pulsed laser deposition on freshly-cleaved NaCl(001) single crystals heated at 300 °C. After transfer to an amorphous carbon support, the NPs were annealed in vacuum at elevated temperatures above 400 °C for a few hours (6-10 hours) to promote chemical ordering. The as-grown NPs were mostly monocrystalline with a chemically-disordered face-centered cubic structure. Upon high-temperature annealing, a high degree of chemical ordering was observed in nanometer-sized NPs. Electron microscopy measurements showed that both L10 and L12 orders are stabilized in the Au-rich region of the Au-Pd phase diagram. These ordered phases exist at temperatures as high as 600 °C. Moreover, compositional analysis of single annealed particles revealed that the observed chemical ordering occurs in parallel to a two-tiered Ostwald ripening process. Due to this ripening process, a clear dependence between chemical composition and particle size is established during annealing with an enrichment in Pd as the NPs grow in size. Our results, besides clarifying some controversial aspects about long-range order in Au-Pd alloys, shed light on the structural stability of Au-Pd nanoalloys at elevated temperatures.

Iron-dependent enzymes are prevalent in nature and participate in a wide range of biological redox activities. Frequently, high-valence iron intermediates are involved in the catalytic events of iron-dependent enzymes, especially when the activation of peroxide or molecular oxygen is involved. Building on the fundamental framework of iron-oxygen chemistry, these reactive intermediates constantly attract significant attention from the enzymology community. During the past few decades, tremendous efforts from a number of laboratories have been dedicated to the capture and characterization of these intermediates to improve mechanistic understandings. In 2008, an unprecedented bis-Fe(IV) intermediate was reported in a c-type diheme enzyme, MauG, which is involved in the maturation of a tryptophan tryptophylquinone cofactor of methylamine dehydrogenase. This intermediate, although chemically equivalent to well-characterized high-valence iron intermediates, such as compound I, compound ES, and intermediate Q in methane monooxygenase, as well as the hypothetical Fe(V) species in Rieske non-heme oxygenases, is orders of magnitude more stable than these other high-valence species in the absence of its primary substrate. It has recently been discovered that the bis-Fe(IV) intermediate exhibits a unique near-IR absorption feature which has been attributed to a novel charge-resonance phenomenon. This review compares the properties of MauG with structurally related enzymes, summarizes the current knowledge of this new high-valence iron intermediate, including its chemical origin and structural basis, explores the formation and consequences of charge resonance, and recounts the long-range catalytic mechanism in which bis-Fe(IV) participates. Biological strategies for storing oxidizing equivalents with iron ions are also discussed.

This article deals with a high-precision three-dimensional positioning and measuring machine and its application as a metrological long-range scanning force microscope. At the Institute of Process Measurement and Sensor Technology of the Technische Universitaet Ilmenau an interferometric nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine has been developed. Which is able to achieve a resolution of less than 0.1 nm over the entire positioning and measurement range of 25 mm x 25 mm x 5 mm and is traceable to the length standard. The Abbe offset-free design in conjunction with a corner mirror as a reference coordinate system provides extraordinary accuracy. The integration of several probe systems and nanotools (AFM, STM, focus sensor, tactile probes) makes the nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine suitable for various tasks in the micro- and nanotechnologies. Various probe systems have been integrated in the last few years. For example, a commercial piezo tube AFM was integrated and tested. Additionally, interferometeric measurement systems of the nanopositioning and nanomeasuring machine enables the calibration of probe systems. Also in order to achieve the best possible measurement results special probe systems have been developed and tested and are discussed briefly.

In this study, we achieved long-range ordering of block copolymers (BCPs) by combining solvent-annealing process and well-controlled patterned substrates. Nano-lines of poly(tetrafluoro ethylene) (PTFE) were firstly fabricated in large area as a PTFE bar was rubbed on Si substrates at 340 °C. The amplitude and pitch distance of PTFE nanolines were around 17 nm and 150 nm, respectively. Then, asymmetric polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) copolymers (PS- b-P2VP) were subsequently spin-coated on the patterned substrates after a thin layer of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was prepared on the PTFE patterned substrates to enhance the wettability of BCP thin films. As BCP thin films were solvent-annealed in vapor of organic solvents, highly ordered BCP nanostructures oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the surface were generated in large area. In addition, the nanopatterns were successfully transferred to the underlying PVA layer or Si substrate by dry etching. Thus, the resulting nanopatterns were utilized as templates to synthesize inorganic nanofeatures. The ordering behavior of BCP thin films on the patterned substrates was characterized by using AFM, SEM and GI-SAXS.

Covert, long-range, night/day identification of stationary human subjects using face recognition has been previously demonstrated using the active-SWIR Tactical Imager for Night/Day Extended-Range Surveillance (TINDERS) system. TINDERS uses an invisible, eye-safe, SWIR laser illuminator to produce high-quality facial imagery under conditions ranging from bright sunlight to total darkness. The recent addition of automation software to TINDERS has enabled the autonomous identification of moving subjects at distances greater than 100 m. Unlike typical cooperative, short range face recognition scenarios, where positive identification requires only a single face image, the SWIR wavelength, long distance, and uncontrolled conditions mean that positive identification requires fusing the face matching results from multiple captured images of a single subject. Automation software is required to initially detect a person, lock on and track the person as they move, and select video frames containing high-quality frontal face images for processing. Fusion algorithms are required to combine the matching results from multiple frames to produce a high-confidence match. These automation functions will be described, and results showing automated identification of moving subjects, night and day, at multiple distances will be presented.

We recently discovered that IκBα enhances the rate of release of NFκB from DNA target sites in a process we have termed molecular stripping. Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of the stripping pathway revealed two mechanisms for the enhanced release rate; the negatively charged PEST region of IκBα electrostatically repels the DNA, and binding of IκBα appears to twist the NFκB heterodimer so that DNA can no longer bind. Here we report amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange data that reveals long-range allosteric changes in the NFκB (RelA-p50) heterodimer induced by DNA or IκBα binding. The data suggest that the two immunoglobulin-like subdomains of each Rel-homology region, which are connected by a flexible linker in the heterodimer, communicate in such a way that when DNA binds to the N-terminal DNA binding domains, the nuclear localization signal becomes more highly exchanging. Conversely, when IκBα binds to the dimerization domains, amide exchange throughout the DNA binding domains is decreased as if the entire domain is becoming globally stabilized. The results help understand how the subtle mechanism of molecular stripping actually occurs.

NASA has recently deployed a new mid-range scheduling system for the antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN), called Service Scheduling Software, or S(sup 3). This system was designed and deployed as a modern web application containing a central scheduling database integrated with a collaborative environment, exploiting the same technologies as social web applications but applied to a space operations context. This is highly relevant to the DSN domain since the network schedule of operations is developed in a peer-to-peer negotiation process among all users of the DSN. These users represent not only NASA's deep space missions, but also international partners and ground-based science and calibration users. The initial implementation of S(sup 3) is complete and the system has been operational since July 2011. This paper describes some key aspects of the S(sup 3) system and on the challenges of modeling complex scheduling requirements and the ongoing extension of S(sup 3) to encompass long-range planning, downtime analysis, and forecasting, as the next step in developing a single integrated DSN scheduling tool suite to cover all time ranges.

Competitive interactions are believed to underlie many types of cortical processing, ranging from memory formation, attention and development of cortical functional organization (e.g., development of orientation maps in primary visual cortex). In the latter case, the competitive interactions happen along the cortical surface, with local populations of neurons reinforcing each other, while competing with those displaced more distally. This specific configuration of lateral interactions is however in stark contrast with the known properties of the anatomical substrate, i.e., excitatory connections (mediating reinforcement) having longer reach than inhibitory ones (mediating competition). No satisfactory biologically plausible resolution of this conflict between anatomical measures, and assumed cortical function has been proposed. Recently a specific pattern of delays between different types of neurons in cat cortex has been discovered, where direct mono-synaptic excitation has approximately the same delay, as the combined delays of the disynaptic inhibitory interactions between excitatory neurons (i.e., the sum of delays from excitatory to inhibitory and from inhibitory to excitatory neurons). Here we show that this specific pattern of delays represents a biologically plausible explanation for how short-range inhibition can support competitive interactions that underlie the development of orientation maps in primary visual cortex. We demonstrate this statement analytically under simplifying conditions, and subsequently show using network simulations that development of orientation maps is preserved when long-range excitation, direct inhibitory to inhibitory interactions, and moderate inequality in the delays between excitatory and inhibitory pathways is added.

Nanostructured plasmonic sensors are fabricated as sinusoidal surface plasmon metallic gratings (SPGs) embedded in a functional and porous hybrid sol-gel material, phenyl-bridged polysilsesquioxane (ph-PSQ). The metal layer is in contact with the environment through the sol-gel film, which works as sensitive element, changing its dielectric properties upon interaction with aromatic hydrocarbons. The combination of sensitivity, transparency and patternability offered by ph-PSQs gives the exceptional possibility to fabricate innovative optical sensors with straightforward processes. An embedded SPG is a thin metal slab waveguide, in which the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) at the two metal-dielectric interfaces superpose, resulting in two physical coupled modes: the longrange SPPs (LRSPPs) and the short range SPPs (SRSPPs). An extended experimental and theoretical characterization of the optical properties of the plasmonic device was performed. The sensor performance was tested against the detection of 30 ppm xylene, monitoring the influence of the target gas on the SPPs modes. A reversible red-shift of the reflectance dips of both LRSPP and SRSPP resonances in the 1.9-2.9 nm range was observed and correlated to the interaction with the analyte. An enhancement in sensitivity associated with the rotation of the grating grooves with respect to the scattering plane (azimuthal rotation) was verified within the experimental errors. Collected data are compatible with theoretical predictions assuming a variation of the film refractive index of 0.011 ± 0.005.

In this study, the source-relationships were established for surface nitrate concentrations in Northeast Asia, using the Particulate Matter Source Apportionment Technology (PSAT) in the CAMx (a regional chemical transport model). Both of the local emissions and Chinese emissions were important among the sources of the particle nitrate in Japan and South Korea, accounting for 27.9-62.9% and 22.9-50.5% respectively. The local contributions of nitrate were 4-20% higher than the figures of sulfate, and this was caused by the different chemical processes and emissions involved. The seasonal variation of the nitrate concentration in East Asia led to different amounts of nitrate being attributed to long-range transport, and was higher in winter (>53%) than in summer (<41%). The interactions between ammonia/ammonium, sulfate and nitrate were also discussed. The distribution of degree of sulfate neutralization (DSN) and the adjusted gas ratio (AdjGR) in East Asia suggested that the particle nitrate concentration was most sensitive to changes in the total ammonia in most parts of Japan and some regions of South Korea. And that was different in most parts of East Asia, where there were large quantities of ammonia. The ammonia from local emissions were most likely responsible for some particulate nitrate being transformed from trans-boundary gaseous nitric, which signified that local emissions of ammonia increased the contribution of China to the nitrate concentrations in Japan and South Korea.

In order to make sense of a scene, a person must pay attention to several levels of nested order, ranging from the most differentiated details of the display to the integrated whole. In adults, research shows that the processes of integration and differentiation have the signature of self-organization. Does the same hold for children? The current study addresses this question with children between 6 and 9 years of age, using two tasks that require attention to hierarchical displays. A group of adults were tested as well, for control purposes. To get at the question of self-organization, reaction times were submitted to a detrended fluctuation analysis and a recurrence quantification analysis. H exponents show a long-range correlations (1/f noise), and recurrence measures (percent determinism, maximum line, entropy, and trend), show a deterministic structure of variability being characteristic of self-organizing systems. Findings are discussed in terms of organism-environment coupling that gives rise to fluid attention to hierarchical displays. PMID:25999862

This study originated from recent results reported in literature, which support the existence of long-range (power-law) persistence in atmospheric temperature fluctuations on monthly and inter-annual scales. We investigated the results of Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) carried out on twenty-two historical daily time series recorded in Europe in order to evaluate the reliability of such findings in depth. More detailed inspections emphasized systematic deviations from power-law and high statistical confidence for functional form misspecification. Rigorous analyses did not support scale-free correlation as an operative concept for Climate modelling, as instead suggested in literature. In order to understand the physical implications of our results better, we designed a bivariate Markov process, parameterised on the basis of the atmospheric observational data by introducing a slow dummy variable. The time series generated by this model, analysed both in time and frequency domains, tallied with the real ones very well. They accounted for both the deceptive scaling found in literature and the correlation details enhanced by our analysis. Our results seem to evidence the presence of slow fluctuations from another climatic sub-system such as ocean, which inflates temperature variance up to several months. They advise more precise re-analyses of temperature time series before suggesting dynamical paradigms useful for Climate modelling and for the assessment of Climate Change.

CD control specifications for poly gate patterning are becoming tighter and tighter: latest revisions of International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors require a CD control in the range of 2.2nm (3σ) for the 65nm technology node. In this scenario model-based Optical Proximity Correction methodologies, traditionally developed to address optical and resist development effects, had to face the challenge to correct post-resist processing steps with the aim to guarantee a final effective CD control within expected specifications. Complex 1D rule-based corrections, applied in the past, are no more adequate to capture complex 2D effects becoming relevant starting from 90nm node; only a more comprehensive 2D model-based approach can correctly predict, and so compensate, complex physical and chemical etch phenomena inducing CD variations. In this paper we experimentally study the impact of medium and longrange etch effects on poly gate patterning, trying to identify their nature and impact on intra-die CD variations. Different innovative model-based approaches for lithography and etch effects compensation are evaluated and compared on Flash memory circuitry (90, 65 and 45 nm node) with the aim to reduce intra-die CD dispersion component. Finally the impact of local and global pattern density on etch behavior is studied in relation to different dummy placement strategies.

This study originated from recent results reported in literature, which support the existence of long-range (power-law) persistence in atmospheric temperature fluctuations on monthly and inter-annual scales. We investigated the results of Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) carried out on twenty-two historical daily time series recorded in Europe in order to evaluate the reliability of such findings in depth. More detailed inspections emphasized systematic deviations from power-law and high statistical confidence for functional form misspecification. Rigorous analyses did not support scale-free correlation as an operative concept for Climate modelling, as instead suggested in literature. In order to understand the physical implications of our results better, we designed a bivariate Markov process, parameterised on the basis of the atmospheric observational data by introducing a slow dummy variable. The time series generated by this model, analysed both in time and frequency domains, tallied with the real ones very well. They accounted for both the deceptive scaling found in literature and the correlation details enhanced by our analysis. Our results seem to evidence the presence of slow fluctuations from another climatic sub-system such as ocean, which inflates temperature variance up to several months. They advise more precise re-analyses of temperature time series before suggesting dynamical paradigms useful for Climate modelling and for the assessment of Climate Change.

In the mammalian brain, the subcortical white matter comprises long-range axonal projections and their associated glial cells. Here, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes serve specific functions during development and throughout adult life, when they meet the metabolic needs of long fiber tracts. Within a short period of time, oligodendrocytes generate large amount of lipids, such as cholesterol, and membrane proteins for building the myelin sheaths. After myelination has been completed, a remaining function of glial metabolism is the energetic support of axonal transport and impulse propagation. Astrocytes can support axonal energy metabolism under low glucose conditions by the degradation of stored glycogen. Recently it has been recognized that the ability of glycolytic oligodendrocytes to deliver pyruvate and lactate is critical for axonal functions in vivo. In this review, we discuss the specific demands of oligodendrocytes during myelination and potential routes of metabolites between glial cells and myelinated axons. As examples, four specific metabolites are highlighted (cholesterol, glycogen, lactate, and N-acetyl-aspartate) that contribute to the specific functions of white matter glia. Regulatory processes are discussed that could be involved in coordinating metabolic adaptations and in providing feedback information about metabolic states.